State's new covid cases, vaccination rates both trend downward

May 27, 2021 at 6:58 p.m.

by Andy Davis

Margie Show (left), a retired pharmacist, and Shalena McWillaims, vice president of pharmacy services for CHI St. Vincent, prepare doses of the coronavirus vaccine Friday, April 23, 2021 at Little Rock Southwest High School. The clinic, hosted by the City of Little Rock, CHI St. Vincent, the Mexican Consulate and the Little Rock School District, focused on the Spanish-speaking members of the community, but was open to anyone eligible to receive the vaccine. Another vaccine clinic was held May 1 at Southwest Community Center. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Staci Vandagriff)
Margie Show (left), a retired pharmacist, and Shalena McWillaims, vice president of pharmacy services for CHI St. Vincent, prepare doses of the coronavirus vaccine Friday, April 23, 2021 at Little Rock Southwest High School. The clinic, hosted by the City of Little Rock, CHI St. Vincent, the Mexican Consulate and the Little Rock School District, focused on the Spanish-speaking members of the community, but was open to anyone eligible to receive the vaccine. Another vaccine clinic was held May 1 at Southwest Community Center. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Staci Vandagriff)

The number of new coronavirus cases identified in Arkansas each day continued trending downward on Thursday, even as active cases climbed back above the 2,000 mark and the number of people hospitalized with the virus jumped by 14.

The pace of vaccinations also continued slowing, with the average number of doses administered each day over a rolling seven-day period dropping below 8,000 for the first time since Feb. 23.

The state's death toll from the virus since March 2020, as tracked by the Arkansas Department of Health, rose by two, to 5,829.

"The number of fully immunized people in Arkansas rose by 4,199 yesterday, and 7,860 more people were vaccinated," Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Thursday in a tweet. "I think everyday about what more we can do to encourage and incentivize vaccines, but it is really up to each individual. Let’s keep encouraging each other."

The 218 cases that were added to the state's tallies marked the second consecutive daily increase that was smaller than the one a week earlier.

The average number of cases added to the state's tallies fell to 179, the first time since late April it had dropped below 180.

After falling by 11 on Wednesday, the number of people hospitalized in the state with covid-19 rose Thursday to 203, tying with May 20 for its highest level in more than two months.

The number of the state's virus patients who were on ventilators fell for the third consecutive day, dropping from 33 on Wednesday to 31.

Active cases of the coronavirus rose by 33, to 2,008. It was the first time since Sunday in which cases were higher than 2,000, but it was also the fewest number of active cases on any Thursday this month.

The increase in vaccine doses that had been administered, including second doses of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, was more than 3,500 doses fewer than the increase the previous Thursday.

As a result, the average number of doses administered each day over a rolling seven-day period fell by more than 500, to 7,669.

More details in Friday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

CORRECTION: The number of the state's virus patients who were on ventilators fell for the third consecutive day. An earlier version of this story misstated the number of days in which the number fell.

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