State's count of new covid-19 cases declining on week-to-week basis

A covid testing sign directs drivers waiting in line to get a free covid-19 self-test at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2020. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
A covid testing sign directs drivers waiting in line to get a free covid-19 self-test at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2020. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Arkansas reported 314 new covid-19 cases on Saturday, a decrease from the 459 cases reported a day earlier and the 327 new cases reported a week earlier, according to the Arkansas Department of Health.

"On February 13, we had over 950 new cases with a similar amount of testing," Gov. Asa Hutchinson wrote on Twitter. Arkansas reported 954 new cases that day, and has never reported more than 900 since, except for the 3,220 cases added in a "data clean-up" on Feb. 28. Most of those cases were more than two weeks old at the time and were considered recovered.

The state reported administering 15,855 doses of covid-19 vaccine on Saturday, while federal programs administered 4,220 doses. The state has now reported giving 759,646 doses of vaccine.

Some of those doses were the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine. The Health Department started administering those vaccines Monday after receiving about 24,000 doses the previous week.

The state now considers 295,870 Arkansans to be fully immunized against covid-19.

Arkansas has seen a total of 326,813 covid cases since March 2020, according to Health Department data. Of those, 3,190 cases were active as of Saturday, compared to 4,160 a week earlier.

The state reported 18 additional coronavirus-related deaths on Saturday, raising the official death toll to 5,455 since the virus arrived in the state just over a year ago. The state recorded its first covid-related death on March 24, 2020.

The state considers 318,147 people to have recovered from the coronavirus.

More details in Sunday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

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