State's virus hospitalizations reach new high of 649

Gov. Asa Hutchinson arrives Tuesday Sept. 29, 2020 in Little Rock for his weekly covid-19 briefing at the state Capitol. See more photos at arkansasonline.com/930governor/. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Staton Breidenthal)
Gov. Asa Hutchinson arrives Tuesday Sept. 29, 2020 in Little Rock for his weekly covid-19 briefing at the state Capitol. See more photos at arkansasonline.com/930governor/. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Staton Breidenthal)

Covid-19 hospitalizations in Arkansas reached yet another new high on Monday, as the Department of Health reported that the number of patients around the state had risen by 16, to 649.

The high in hospitalizations follows a string of days in which the state Health Department reported a thousand or more infections last week. On Monday, the number of new cases was lower, at 612.

That brought the total number of covid-19 cases in the state since the start of the pandemic to 106,727. Of those, 9,571 were considered active cases.

The Health Department also reported 21 new deaths from the virus, for a total of 1,833.

Sen. Cecile Bledsoe, R-Rogers received results Sunday night that she tested positive, according to Senate President Pro Tempore Jim Hendren, R-Sulphur Springs, making her the seventh state lawmaker to receive a positive test for the coronavirus during the past several days.

“We are not having a steep escalation of cases but we do see the new cases steadily increasing in the last few weeks,” Gov. Asa Hutchinson said in a statement attached to the day’s numbers. “The increased hospitalizations and deaths are somber reminders of the current threat. United, we will have success but it takes everyone to fight hard in the coming weeks. We must do our part to help slow the spread of COVID-19 in Arkansas, especially as we head toward what could be a very challenging winter."

The numbers reported by the Health Department on Monday were based off of 6,965 lab-confirmed test results, as well as 641 antigen tests.

Case numbers grew the most in Pulaski, Washington, Craighead, Sebastian and Benton counties, according to the Health Department.

This story was originally published at 2:34 p.m.

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