For the fifth time in a week, the Arkansas Department of Health on Monday tallied more than 800 new cases of coronavirus in a 24-hour period, and the state again approached its previous high in hospitalizations.
The latest increase in cases came as another 21 Arkansans reportedly died after contracting the virus, raising the death toll to 1,329.
The Health Department also reported that another 35 people were hospitalized with coronavirus since the previous day. The total number of patients, 496, approached the previous high of 526 hospitalizations that the state reached on Aug 4. The number of people on ventilators rose by 13, to 99.
On a positive note, the number of active cases fell again for the second day in a row to reach 7,142.
More than 82,049 Arkansans have tested positive for the virus or are believed to have fallen ill since the start of the pandemic in the state on March 11. That number was an increase of 807 from Sunday, with all but 21 of the new cases being reported from lab-confirmed tests.
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The counties reporting 20 or more new confirmed cases of the virus on Monday were Pulaski, Sebastian, Craighead, Garland and Faulkner counties. Pulaski County reported the most new confirmed cases, with 74.
In a statement responding to the day's numbers, Gov. Asa Hutchinson said, "It's critical that we all continue following the guidance of our public health officials to slow the spread of this virus."
The governor is expected to deliver his weekly address on the pandemic today. His statement Monday said topics will include an update on testing efforts and the White House's coronavirus task force report.
Monday's coronavirus numbers were reported from 7,056 lab-confirmed -- or polymerase chain reaction -- tests, along with nine antigen tests, only one of which delivered a positive result.
Hutchinson announced Sunday that the state had reached its goal of processing 200,000 lab-confirmed tests in September early, after falling short of its testing goals in each of the previous two months.
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CASES IN CHILDREN
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's weekly morbidity and mortality report released Monday, at least 277,285 school-age children have tested positive for the virus between March and Sept. 19.
The report found that adolescents were almost twice as likely to report infections as younger school-age children. The CDC also found higher rates of the virus among Hispanic children, while offering the guidance that schools should implement "multiple, concurrent mitigation strategies."
"Variations in percentage of positive tests might indicate differences in community transmission rates," the report stated. "School studies suggest that in-person learning can be safe in communities with low [covid-19] transmission rates but might increase transmission risk in communities where transmission is already high."
REPORT ON SCHOOLS
Covid-19 active case totals declined in Monday's statewide schools report.
Public school totals fell to 717 active cases from 742 as of Thursday. The report is published twice weekly by the state Department of Health.
The Little Rock School District became the third district in the state to have more than 100 cumulative student cases since the school year began, according to totals tracked by the Health Department.
The state's second-largest school district had 115 cumulative student cases as of Monday, according to the report, as well as 25 cumulative teacher and staff cases. Little Rock School District enrolled more than 21,000 students last year, according to the most recent state data.
Other districts with more than 100 cumulative student cases are the Fort Smith School District, with 141, and Springdale School District, with 151, the report stated. Fort Smith School District enrolled about 14,000 students last year and Springdale School District enrolled about 22,000.
Springdale School District topped all districts with 47 active cases involving either students or school employees, according to the report, followed by the Little Rock School District with 37 active cases and Magnolia School District with 19 active cases.
Friendship Aspire Academy Pine Bluff is among several schools in the state this fall to temporarily shift to online-only instruction for a group of students.
Second-graders and a few third-graders enrolled in the public charter school's hybrid model of instruction -- one of three modes of instruction offered by the school this fall -- pivoted to online-only classes beginning Sept. 21, spokesman Shannon Travis said Monday.
"Those modifications only extend through this week. The affected students will come back to school Oct. 5," Travis said. He declined to say how many students are affected or to confirm if any faculty or staff are in quarantine.
Protective measures at the school include plastic partitions atop student tables and strict enforcement of social distancing, Travis said.
Among private K-12 schools, active covid-19 case totals dipped to 32 from 37 as of Thursday, according to the Health Department.
HIGHER EDUCATION
The state's public and private colleges saw a larger decline in active cases, according to the Health Department tally, falling to 490 from the 604 total listed in last Thursday's report.
The University of Arkansas, Fayetteville led all institutions with 116 active cases, followed by Arkansas Tech University with 60 and the University of Central Arkansas with 54, according to the Health Department's report.
Totals reported by individual schools have differed from state totals, and UA-Fayetteville on Monday reported 63 active cases. The update reflected case totals as of Sunday.
Among active cases, 56 are students, six are staffers and one is a faculty member.
UA-Fayetteville identified 18 new positive cases since its Friday update, but the active case total declined from 85 reported Friday.
Cases are removed from UA's active count after 10 days have passed since the testing dates.
Weekly on-campus testing totals decreased for the seven-day period that ended Sunday, falling to 1,095 from 1,195 for the previous week. The campus has a total enrollment of about 27,500.
Information for this article was contributed by Kat Stromquist of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.