After rising by one a day earlier, the number of covid-19 patients in Arkansas hospitals resumed its decline on Wednesday, reaching a new three-month low.
The number of those patients in intensive care dropped below 200 for the first time since July 10.
The state's count of cases rose by 672, the ninth consecutive daily increase that was smaller than the one a week earlier.
Arkansas' death toll from the virus since March 2020, as tracked by the Arkansas Department of Health, rose by nine, to 8,230.
The number of covid-19 patients in Arkansas hospitals fell Wednesday by 10, to 451, its lowest level since July 7.
The number of the state's virus patients who were on ventilators, as well as the number in intensive care, both fell for the third consecutive day.
The number on ventilators fell by six, to 123, its lowest level since July 18.
The number in intensive care fell by three, to 199. The number of intensive care unit beds that were unoccupied rose by five, to 170.
People with covid-19 made up about 19% of all the state's patients in intensive care, down slightly from about 20% a day earlier.
The increase in cases on Wednesday was smaller by 22 than the one the previous Wednesday.
Already at its lowest level since the week ending July 7, the average daily increase over a rolling seven-day period fell to 559.
With recoveries and deaths outpacing new cases, the number of cases in the state that were considered active, already at its lowest level since July 7, fell by 72, to 5,781.
Meanwhile, at 6,332, the increase in vaccine doses that providers reported having administered was smaller by more than 600 than the one the previous Wednesday.
After rising the previous two days, the average number of doses administered each day over a rolling seven-day period fell to 5,653.
Of the most recently reported doses, 38% were third doses, including booster shots of the Pfizer vaccine for people who received their second dose at least six months ago.
First doses, including the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine, made up 28% of the increase.
Second doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines accounted for the remaining 34%.
More details in Thursday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.