The day after Christmas saw lower covid-19 numbers between new and active cases and deaths, but the number of patients hospitalized with covid-19 rose by 15 on Sunday, according to Health Department data.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson posted the covid-19 update on social media Sunday afternoon, but did not comment on the numbers as he typically does, only stating "Today's Covid update."
Another 422 cases of the coronavirus were reported Sunday, raising the cumulative total to 550,413, according to the Arkansas Department of Health.
The number was 602 cases lower than the 1,024 reported the previous day and the lowest seen in a week that saw case numbers climb rapidly to a high of 1,719 on Friday.
Case reports typically slow down on weekends, especially near holidays.
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The Health Department has confirmed only two cases of the omicron variant in the state, but some medical facilities and testing labs have reported more cases of the fast-spreading variant in northeast Arkansas. Those cases have not yet made it to the Health Department to include in the count.
The Centers for Disease Control said on its website that a surge of covid-19 cases, due to the omicron variant, is expected in the coming days to weeks.
It took less than a month since the omicron strain was first found in the U.S. for it to overtake the delta variant as the dominate strain of the virus in the nation. CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky told reporters during a briefing Wednesday that omicron now accounts for 90% of the cases in some areas of the country.
Overall, omicron makes up for 73.2% of the covid-19 cases as a whole in the nation, according to CDC data.
BY THE NUMBERS
Active cases dropped by 91 to 9,942, but still higher than the same day a week ago when active cases were 7,693.
The number of patients hospitalized with covid-19 rose by 15 to 482 on Sunday, lower by 34 from a week ago.
Those coronavirus patients who were on ventilators rose by five to 118.
The state's death toll from the virus since March 2020, as tracked by the Health Department, rose by eight to 9,066.
VACCINATIONS
The number of vaccine doses that providers reported having administered, including second and third doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, rose by 612 to 3,665,749.
The number of individuals fully immunized increased by 123, to a total of 1,498,442, or 52.7% of Arkansans 5 years old and up. The number of Arkansans partially immunized against the virus increased by 147, to 349,291, or 12.3% of the population 5 years old and up.
As of Sunday, 418,327 third vaccine doses had been administered.
According to Health Department data, 84.7% of the total cases since Feb. 1 were in people not fully vaccinated. Of the current active cases, 70.4% are in people not fully vaccinated. Of the total deaths, 85.2% were unvaccinated, and, of those hospitalized, 87.1% were unvaccinated.
COUNTY CASES
Health Department data indicates that Pulaski County had the largest increase in cases reported Sunday, with the count rising by 79.
The next-highest increase was Craighead County, with 63 followed by Benton County, with 29.
TEST RESULTS
There were 3,850 newly reported covid-19 tests, comprising 3,570 PCR and 280 antigen tests.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, a total of 5,714,199 tests have been reported. Of that number, 574,287 were positive for covid-19, according to Health Department data.