State case count up by 992

Gov. Asa Hutchinson waits to speak at his last daily coronavirus update Friday, Sept. 11, 2020, in Mena. He cautioned against overreacting to that day's sudden jump in cases, setting what was then a record of 1,180 new coronavirus cases in Arkansas. More photos at arkansasonline.com/912gov/.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson waits to speak at his last daily coronavirus update Friday, Sept. 11, 2020, in Mena. He cautioned against overreacting to that day's sudden jump in cases, setting what was then a record of 1,180 new coronavirus cases in Arkansas. More photos at arkansasonline.com/912gov/.

​​​​​Arkansas' count of coronavirus cases rose Thursday by 992 — the largest one-day increase in almost a week.

The state's count of cases confirmed through molecular tests rose by 883, to 71,614.

Its tally of probable cases, which include those diagnosed through less-sensitive antigen tests, grew by 109, to 1,597.

The Department of Health's count of virus deaths rose by nine, including eight deaths among confirmed cases and one among probable cases.

The state's total case count, including probable and confirmed cases, rose to 73,211, while its count of total virus deaths rose to 1,166.

The death toll included 1,018 deaths among confirmed cases and 148 among probable cases.

The number of people hospitalized in the state with covid-19 increased by two, to 389, while the number of virus patients who were on ventilators rose by seven, to 72.

The number of cases in the state that were considered active rose by 189, to 6,100, as 794 Arkansans were newly classified as having recovered.

Despite the different classifications, the Health Department has said it treats confirmed and probable cases the same for the purposes of its contact-tracing efforts.

That includes requiring people whose results are positive from either type of test to isolate themselves, and those they may have infected to quarantine.

The increase in both confirmed and probable cases was the largest since Friday, when the state recorded a record 1,107 increase in confirmed cases and 73 new probable cases.

The largest number of new confirmed cases on Thursday was in Pulaski County, which had 67, followed by Sebastian County with 60, Washington County with 54, Benton County with 34, Craighead County with 32 and Jefferson County with 32.

Fifty-two of the confirmed cases were among prison or jail inmates.

Such increases can reflect new cases or ones that were added earlier but not immediately classified as coming from a jail or prison.

Cases among inmates are also sometimes added several days after the test is performed, after information from laboratory reports is entered into a state database.

Read Friday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.

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