The numbers of covid-19 patients in Arkansas who were in hospitals, on ventilators or in intensive care all fell for a second consecutive day Tuesday, with the number hospitalized reaching its lowest level since July 14.
The state's count of cases rose by 747, the second daily increase in a row that was smaller than the one a week earlier.
Arkansas' death toll from the virus, as tracked by the Department of Health, rose by 23, to 7,775.
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"Active cases have continued to decline every day for more than three weeks," Gov. Asa Hutchinson said in a tweet, referring to the number of people who have been infected but not yet recovered.
"We're now at the lowest level since the middle of July. Our hospitalizations have also seen a steady decline. Vaccines can prevent deaths," the governor said, but "we are losing too many Arkansans."
With recoveries and deaths outpacing new cases, the active case total fell Tuesday by 439, to 8,096, the smallest number since July 12.
It was the 24th straight day the number fell.
Meanwhile, the chief executive of Washington Regional Medical System said Tuesday that fewer than 20 of the health system's 3,313 employees had been fired for failing to meet Friday's deadline to have gotten at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine.
The health system, which includes Washington Regional Medical Center in Fayetteville, is one of several providers in the state with vaccine requirements that took effect last week as state lawmakers consider measures that would limit such mandates.
"We know vaccines are safe and represent the most effective means available to control and end the covid-19 pandemic," Washington Regional CEO Larry Shackelford said in a statement.
"The effectiveness of employer mandates is being borne out across the United States as well as at Washington Regional. It is regrettable that sound principles of public health, which have been advocated by numerous medical and scientific authorities, have been politicized."
The number of people hospitalized in the state fell by five, to 664.
The number who were on ventilators fell by four, to 188.
Already at its lowest level since July 19, the number of covid-19 patients who were in intensive care fell by nine, to 302.
The number of intensive-care beds that were unoccupied statewide, however, fell by 20, to 96, as a result of an increase in non-covid patients.
People with covid-19 made up 27% of the state's patients in intensive care Tuesday, down from 29% a day earlier.
Except for Sunday, when the number didn't change, the number of covid-19 patients in Arkansas hospitals has fallen each day for more than two weeks.
"I think we're still moving in the right direction," said Dr. Jennifer Dillaha, the Health Department's chief medical officer. "It's nice to see the number of active cases continue to decline."
VACCINE REQUIREMENTS
While a forthcoming federal rule will require vaccinations of workers at hospitals and other health care facilities that accept Medicare or Medicaid, Washington Regional is among providers in Arkansas that have already enacted their own mandates.
Washington Regional spokeswoman Natalie Hardin said the system's employees were required to get at least one vaccine dose by Friday.
Employees receiving the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine also had to have the second dose of the two-dose regimens scheduled if they hadn't already received it.
Shackelford said less than 6% of the health system's employees applied for exemptions based on a disability or religious belief, and the majority of those requests were approved.
"All accommodations were determined on an individualized basis taking into consideration each individual's particular situation, job description and work environment," he said.
In most cases, employees receiving exemptions must wear an N95 respirator and eye protection while on campus and submit to weekly testing, he said.
At Mercy health system, which has hospitals in Rogers, Fort Smith and Berryville, employees who failed to comply with a vaccine requirement were suspended without pay Friday and will be terminated 28 days after that if they still haven't complied, spokeswoman Mardi Taylor has said.
"We aren't able to provide the number of employees who have been suspended," Taylor said in an email Tuesday.
"As of today, more than 97% of co-workers Mercy-wide have been vaccinated. Some who have been suspended have received their first dose of the COVID vaccine but not the second, and Mercy anticipates reinstating them after their second dose."
A deadline to be fully vaccinated also arrived last week for the 300 employees who make up the leadership team of Jonesboro-based St. Bernards Healthcare.
Spokesman Mitchell Nail said Friday that 99% of them had met the requirement and that any who were not in compliance would be fired.
"In terms of if somebody was terminated, we're not going to discuss personnel details," Nail said Tuesday.
St. Bernards employees who aren't part of the leadership team have until Nov. 1 to get fully vaccinated.
The health system includes St. Bernards Medical Center in Jonesboro, CrossRidge Community Hospital in Wynne and St. Bernards Five Rivers Medical Center in Pocahontas.
Arkansas Children's CEO Marcy Doderer announced in July that her organization's upper-level staff members would have to be fully vaccinated by last Thursday.
An Aug. 27 memo extended the requirement, with the same deadline, to all medical staff members.
Vaccination requirements take effect Friday at Conway Regional Health System and Nov. 1 at CHI St. Vincent and NEA Baptist Memorial Hospital in Jonesboro.
NEW CASES DECLINE
The increase in cases Tuesday was smaller by 53 than the one the previous Tuesday.
As a result, the average daily increase in the state's case count over a rolling seven-day period, already at its lowest level since the week ending July 10, fell to 727.
In its daily coronavirus report, the Little Rock School District said eight students and two staff members had tested positive in the 24-hour period ending at 3 p.m. Tuesday.
An additional 73 students and two employees at more than a dozen campuses were required to quarantine after being near an infected person.
Those students included 14 at Carver Magnet Elementary, 20 at Chicot Elementary and Chicot Early Childhood Center, 10 at Fulbright Elementary, nine at Terry Elementary, five at Washington Elementary and eight at Western Hills Elementary.
According to rankings from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Arkansas had the 12th-lowest number of new cases per capita among the states and the District of Columbia during the seven-day span ending Monday, down from the 19th-lowest the week ending Thursday.
In new deaths, Arkansas' rate fell from the 15th-highest to the 16th-highest as its number per 100,000 residents over seven days fell from 4.7 as of Thursday to 4 as of Monday.
Within Arkansas, Benton County had the most new cases Tuesday, 53, followed by Pulaski County, which had 51, and Washington County, which had 44.
The state's cumulative count of cases rose to 499,004.
Dillaha said all the deaths reported Tuesday happened within the past month.
She said 8.1% of the state's coronavirus tests were positive in the seven-day span ending Monday, down from the 8.3% initially reported for the week ending Sunday and a high during the summer of 16.3% for the week ending Aug. 4.
Hutchinson has said he seeks to keep the percentage below 10%.
The number of people who have ever been hospitalized with covid-19 in the state grew by 69, to 26,612.
The number who have ever been on a ventilator rose by 20, to 2,766.
VACCINATIONS DOWN
At 8,758, the increase in vaccine doses that providers reported having administered, including second and third doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, was the first one in eight days that was smaller than a week earlier.
About 20% of the most recently reported doses were first shots. More than 47% were third, booster doses.
The average number of doses administered each day over a rolling seven-day period fell by about 96, to 8,170.
That was still up from the average a week earlier of 5,568 doses a day but down from a high during the summer of 13,361 a day the week ending Aug. 27.
According to the CDC, the number of Arkansans who had received at least one vaccine dose rose Tuesday by 748, to 1,690,762, representing about 56% of the state's population.
The number who had been fully vaccinated grew by 996, to 1,387,937, or about 46% of the population.
Among the states and the District of Columbia, Arkansas continued to rank 37th in the percentage of its population that had received at least one dose and 42nd -- ahead of Tennessee, Louisiana, Georgia, North Dakota, Mississippi, Alabama, Idaho, Wyoming and West Virginia -- in the percentage who were fully vaccinated.
Nationally, 65% of people had received at least one dose, and 56% were fully vaccinated.
Information for this article was contributed by Cynthia Howell of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.