Arkansas’ count of new coronavirus cases in a single day fell to 636 Monday - the lowest it has been since Nov. 2 when the cases dipped to 584 before seeing months of record highs, reaching to 4,304 on Jan. 1.
That was a reduction of 473 cases compared to a week earlier. On Jan. 18, the state added 1,109 new covid cases to the total count since the pandemic hit the state in March.
The state's death toll from the virus rose by 44 to 4,650, as tracked by the Arkansas Department of Health.
"While we saw a significant decline in new cases, our testing was also lower," Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Monday in a statement. "An additional 44 deaths and a slight increase in hospitalizations remind us of the challenge we continue to face with this pandemic and what happens if we don't follow health department guidelines."
There were 6,486 confirmed through polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, tests, and 357 antigen tests reported Monday - significantly lower than the previous Monday when 8,432 PCR and 323 antigen tests were recorded.
The number of Arkansans who were hospitalized with the virus rose by four to 1,084 Monday. There were 17 more ventilators in use, going from 170 to 187.
The number of active covid-19 cases in the state dropped by 1,603, going from 19,395 on Sunday to 17,792 on Monday.
The number of virus patients in intensive care units as of Monday afternoon fell by 11, to 334 - the eighth consecutive daily decline for that tally.
The state's cumulative count of cases since the pandemic began rose Monday to 284,702.
Read Tuesday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for more details.