Arkansas' count of coronavirus cases rose Thursday by 1,265 — the largest one-day increase since the start of the pandemic.
The number of people hospitalized with the virus in the state set a record for the third straight day, while the state's covid-19 death toll rose by 21, topping 1,500.
The state's cumulative count of cases topped 90,000.
“We continue to see high levels of community spread across Arkansas," Gov. Asa Hutchinson said in a statement.
"While I see so many Arkansans doing the right thing by wearing a mask, keeping their distance, and avoiding large gatherings, I know that it will take everyone working together to defeat this virus.”
The increase in cases included 1,066 that were confirmed through polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, tests and 199 "probable" cases, which include those identified through less-sensitive antigen tests.
All 21 deaths added to the state's total were of confirmed cases. That, and the reclassification of one death that has been listed as being of a probable case, raised the state's death toll among confirmed cases to 1,359.
The overall death toll, which includes 144 deaths among probable cases, rose to 1,503.
The number of people hospitalized in the state with covid-19 rose by nine, to 547.
Those patients included 103 who were on ventilators, up from 98 a day earlier.
The state's cumulative count of probable and confirmed cases rose to 90,145.
That comprised 85,980 confirmed cases and 4,165 probable ones.
The number of cases that were considered active rose by 384, to 7,070, as 860 Arkansans were newly classified as having recovered.
The state's previous record for a one-day increase in cases was the 1,180 that were added on Sept. 11.