Arkansas reported 2,489 active cases of the coronavirus on Saturday, the fifth consecutive day in which active cases increased — and the third consecutive day in which the number of active cases was the highest since March.
The number of Arkansans hospitalized with covid-19 has also been rising, with 244 hospitalized on Saturday, compared to 197 a week earlier and 235 on Friday. There were 63 covid-19 patients on ventilators Saturday, five more than on Friday.
“There’s usually a little bit of a lag in hospitalizations, but [active cases] are on a fairly steady upward climb, and that means hospitalizations will follow on a steady upward climb,” state epidemiologist Jennifer Dillaha said.
The number of active cases was up 75 from Friday, up 377 from a week earlier, and up 708 from two weeks earlier, according to data from the Arkansas Department of Health. However, the number remains well below the all-time high of 27,822 active cases on Jan. 10.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson also noted on Twitter on Saturday that the 251 new cases Saturday was slightly lower than the 264 reported a week earlier, on June 12.
The number of vaccinations given per day has steadily decreased for weeks and has been below 7,000 for most of June, according to Health Department data. On Saturday, 5,519 vaccinations were given.
“I, of course, would like to see more, but I’m thankful that we are still seeing several thousand people get a dose of vaccine on most days,” Dillaha said.
She said the Health Department still encourages mask-wearing, social distancing and avoiding large groups, “particularly in situations where you don’t know if everyone is vaccinated or not.”
There were no new deaths from covid-19 reported on Saturday, so the state’s total remained at 5,874, according to the Health Department. It was the second day in June in which the state reported no covid-related deaths. In addition, the official death toll fell on Wednesday as some deaths were reclassified as not being related to covid, offsetting some covid deaths throughout the state.
Pulaski County had the most new covid-19 cases Saturday with 36. Benton, Faulkner, Stone and Washington counties all had 13 cases each, and Jefferson and Saline counties both had 12 each.
Arkansas has seen a total of 345,472 covid cases since March 2020. Of those, 337,038 are considered recovered.
More details in Sunday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.