Already at their highest levels since March, the numbers of covid-19 patients in Arkansas hospitals and on ventilators continued climbing Friday.
The 276 cases added in the state, however, were the second increase in a row that was smaller than the one a week earlier.
The death toll from the virus, as tracked by the state Department of Health, rose by five, to 5,874.
"You are at risk of getting COVID-19 and spreading the virus if you fail to wear a mask in crowded spaces and you have not been vaccinated," Gov. Asa Hutchinson said in a tweet.
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"This virus will not go away without each one doing his or her part. We continue to see the effectiveness of these vaccines."
The number of virus patients in state hospitals rose by 16, to 235, while the number on ventilators rose by two, to 58.
It was the highest level since March 18 for the number hospitalized and since March 16 for the number on ventilators.
After rising to its highest level since March 17 a day earlier, the number of covid-19 patients in intensive care units remained at 116.
With new cases outpacing recoveries, the number of cases that were considered active rose by 80, to 2,414, its highest level since March 21.
The increase in total cases was smaller by 117 than the one a week earlier, when the state posted its largest one-day increase since March 16.
After reaching a nearly three-month high of 247 as of Wednesday, the average daily increase in the state case count over a rolling seven-day period fell Friday to 230.
"I think we're still seeing some impact from Memorial [Day] weekend, but I'm pleased that the total number of new cases were lower than they were a week ago," state Epidemiologist Jennifer Dillaha said.
She said the increase in hospitalizations was concerning, but "probably a lagging indicator of this little higher number of cases that we have seen."
Compared with a week earlier, the number of test results the department reported receiving was also down.
It said it had received the results of 1,734 polymerase chain reaction, or PCR tests that were performed Thursday, which was down by more than 400 from the number it reported a week earlier.
The 789 antigen tests performed Thursday was down by 35 from the number reported a week earlier.
STILL AT RISK
Dillaha also said Friday that 85 people in Arkansas have been hospitalized with confirmed covid-19 infections after being fully vaccinated.
That's about 1% of the 6,748 people who have been hospitalized with the virus since the state's first vaccine doses were administered, on Dec. 14.
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"I think that it shows that the vaccines work really well to keep people out of the hospital, but there are some people who likely do not respond robustly to the vaccines, and so they are still at risk for severe disease," Dillaha said.
For instance, she said people with blood cancers, who are on dialysis or who are taking certain medications may not receive as much protection from the vaccines as others.
Older people generally also tend to generate less of an immune response from the vaccines than younger people, she said.
"I would encourage older adults to be cautious about being in crowds," Dillaha said.
"If they are in a setting where there's a lot of people that they cannot tell if they're vaccinated or not, I would encourage them to wear a mask and practice social distancing, especially with the new variants that are spreading in Arkansas. They're so much more transmissible than the ones that we initially had come through our state."
The vulnerability of people with weakened immune systems is "all the more reason for people who are not vaccinated to continue to wear masks and practice social distancing when they're out in public," Dillaha said.
Dillaha said in late April that two Arkansans had died from covid-19 infections after being fully vaccinated. A more recent number wasn't available on Friday.
VACCINATIONS BY AGE
According to a federal report, the Arkansans who had been fully vaccinated as of Wednesday included 64.6% of the state's residents age 65 and older, 35% of those age 18-64 and just 9.1% of children age 12-17.
Of the three vaccines that have been authorized in the United States, Moderna's and Johnson & Johnson's have been cleared only for use on adults.
Pfizer's vaccine is authorized for people age 12 and up.
"I think we'll see the vaccines pick up with younger people as they get their back-to-school vaccines, and the ones that want to participate in sports or camps, I think we'll see an increase as time goes on with those," Dillaha said.
At 6,361, the increase on Friday in vaccine doses that providers reported having administered to Arkansans of all ages, including second doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, was the third one in a row that was smaller than the one a week earlier, according to Health Department figures.
Already at its lowest level since the week ending June 7, the average number of doses administered each day over a rolling seven-day period fell to 5,066.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of Arkansans of all ages who had received at least one vaccine dose rose Friday by 2,341, to 1,236,370, representing about 41% of the state's population.
The number of fully vaccinated rose by 3,456, to 997,306, or about 33% of the population.
Among the states and District of Columbia, Arkansas continued to rank 45th in the percentage of its residents who had received at least one dose and 49th, ahead of only Alabama and Mississippi, in the percentage who were fully vaccinated.
Nationally, 53.1% of people had received at least one dose, and 44.7% were fully vaccinated.
CASES BY COUNTY
The cases added Friday in Arkansas included 208 that were confirmed through PCR tests.
The other 68 were "probable" cases, which include those identified through antigen tests.
The state's cumulative count of cases rose to 345,221.
That comprised 269,148 confirmed cases and 76,073 probable ones.
Pulaski County had the most new cases, 42, followed by Benton County, which had 22, and Washington County, which had 18.
The Health Department didn't report any new cases among prison and jail inmates.
The death toll rose by five, to 4,663, among confirmed cases and remained at 1,211 among probable cases.
Among nursing home and assisted living facility residents, the count of virus deaths remained at 2,091.
The number of people who have ever been hospitalized with confirmed infections in the state grew by 27, to 16,669.
The number who have ever been on a ventilator rose by five, to 1,701.