After dropping below 400 on Saturday for the first time in more than three months, the number of people hospitalized with covid-19 in Arkansas rose Monday for the second day in a row.
The state's count of cases rose by 161, the first daily increase in two weeks that was larger than the one a week earlier.
Arkansas' death toll from the virus, as tracked by the Department of Health, rose by 11, to 8,292.
"Active cases dropped by more than 1,000 since this time last week, and new cases reported slowed down significantly," Gov. Asa Hutchinson said in a tweet.
"It will be important to monitor the incoming numbers after a busy weekend in Little Rock. Booster shots are expanding, but we also need to increase the first dose."
The number of covid-19 patients in the state's hospitals rose by four, to 395, which was still less than a third of the all-time high it reached in August.
It was just the third time in more than a month that the number has risen.
The number of the state's virus patients who were on ventilators, however, dropped for the third day in a row, going from 116 as of Sunday to 113, its lowest level since July 14.
After falling the previous seven days, the number who were in intensive care rose by seven, to 178.
People with covid-19 made up about 18% of all the state's intensive care patients on Monday, up from about 17% a day earlier.
The increase in cases on Monday was larger by 19 than the one the previous Monday.
As a result, the average daily increase over a rolling seven-day period rose to 473.
With recoveries and deaths outpacing new cases, however, the number of cases in the state that were considered active fell by 515, to 4,912.
It was the first time the number had been below 5,000 since July 6.
Meanwhile, at 2,488, the increase in vaccine doses the providers reported having administered was the third daily increase in a row that was larger than the one a week earlier.
The average number of doses administered each day over a rolling seven-day period rose to 6,200, its highest level since the week ending Oct. 13 but still down from a high during the summer of 13,361 a day the week ending Aug. 27.
Of the doses that were most recently reported, about 48% were third doses, including booster doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.
First doses made up about 31% of the increase, with second doses accounting for the remaining 21%.