After setting records for the previous three days, the number of covid-19 patients in Arkansas hospitals fell by 50 on Thursday while state's count of cases rose by 2,318.
The state's death toll from the virus, as tracked by the Arkansas Department of Health, rose by 30, to 6,396.
Dropping for the first time since Friday, the number of covid-19 patients in Arkansas hospitals fell to 1,396 — still higher by 25 than its peak during the winter surge in January.
The number of virus patients who were on ventilators, which also set records the previous three days, remained at 296.
The number of Arkansas coronavirus patients who were in intensive care set a record for the second consecutive day as it rose by four, to 516.
Despite that increase, however, the number of ICU beds that were unoccupied statewide rose by 20, to 34, as a result of a drop in non-covid-19 patients who were in intensive care.
Covid-19 patients made up almost 48% of all patients in intensive care on Thursday, up from about 46% on Wednesday.
The increase in total coronavirus cases on Thursday was the first one in four days that was smaller than the one a week earlier.
The average daily increase in the state's case count over a rolling-seven day period fell by about 66, to 2,273.
With new cases outpacing recoveries, however, the number of cases in the state that were considered active, already at its highest level since Jan. 17, rose by 218, to 24,433.
Meanwhile, the increase in vaccine doses that providers reported having administered, including second doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, was 13,093. It was the second consecutive daily increase that was larger than the one week earlier.
The average number of doses administered each day over a rolling seven-day period rose to 10,419. That remained below a recent high of 12,950 doses a day during the week ending Monday, however.
More details in Friday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
CORRECTION: The average daily increase in the state's case count over a rolling-seven day period fell by about 66, to 2,273. An earlier version of this story gave an incorrect average daily increase.