The number of people hospitalized with covid-19 in Arkansas fell Monday for the seventh day in a row, reaching its lowest level since July 20.
The state's count of cases, however, rose by 470, the first daily increase in 13 days that was larger than the increase on the same day of the previous week.
The state's death toll from the virus, as tracked by the Arkansas Department of Health, rose by 40, to 7,630.
In a tweet, Gov. Asa Hutchinson referred to a drop in the number of cases in the state that were considered active as recoveries and deaths outpaced new cases.
The active-case total fell Monday by 989, to 11,505, the first time the number had been below 12,000 since July 21.
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It was the 16th day in a row that the active-case total had fallen.
"We have nearly 3,500 fewer active cases than last Monday," Hutchinson said. "While this is positive, the high number of COVID deaths confirms the seriousness of this virus. Continue to take precautions and get vaccinated."
Also on Monday, attorneys for Hutchinson and plaintiffs who are challenging a state law prohibiting state and local government mask mandates asked the Arkansas Supreme Court not to lift a judge's order that has blocked the law from being enforced.
"If Act 1002 remains in effect during the course of this litigation the judiciary, local governments and school boards will be unable to exercise their discretion and constitutional authority to protect citizens and students," the Republican governor's legal team wrote.
"The Governor has no intention of issuing a state-wide mask mandate, but he firmly believes that individual school districts should have the authority to take steps in order to protect their residents and students. A school district should be at liberty to layer prevention methods--such as social distancing, vaccination where possible and masks--as recommended by the [U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention]."
Meanwhile, the Health Department announced a series of clinics that will be held around the state to administer booster shots of the Pfizer vaccine to people who received their second doses at least six months earlier.
The CDC on Friday recommended the third doses for people who are 65 or older, for residents of long-term care facilities, and for people age 50-64 with medical conditions putting them at an elevated risk of severe covid-19 illness.
Younger adults with such health conditions and people at increased risk of catching the virus because of their jobs or because they live in institutional settings can also get boosters "based on their individual benefits and risks," according to the agency.
Jennifer Dillaha, the Health Department's chief medical officer, said the agency started administering the Pfizer boosters at its local health units around the state on Monday.
"I did hear that some of the units, they had people there at 8 o'clock ready to get their boosters" when the units opened in the morning, Dillaha said.
MASK DISPUTE
Although he signed Act 1002, Hutchinson later said he regretted it. He has joined with two parents of Pulaski County schoolchildren, with the Little Rock and Marion school districts and with Pulaski County government leaders in arguing that the law is unconstitutional.
On the other side of the dispute, legislative leaders have joined with state Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, a fellow Republican, in appealing Pulaski County Circuit Judge Tim Fox's Aug. 6 order that has stopped the law from being enforced while the lawsuit is pending.
On Monday, in four separate responses to a request for an immediate stay of the Fox injunction, attorneys for Hutchinson, the two parents, the two school districts and County Judge Barry Hyde and Sheriff Eric Higgins of Pulaski County defended the injunction.
Hutchinson's legal team, led by David Matthews of Rogers, said a stay or reversal of the order should occur only if it was clearly wrong or an abuse of discretion.
The legislative appellants must show that their case is likely to succeed on appeal and that irreparable harm will occur if the injunction is not reversed, the governor's attorneys wrote.
"The Legislative Appellants are not likely to prevail on the question of constitutionality and the real harm is most likely to be suffered if the injunction is stayed," the legal team said.
The attorney team noted that half the student population in the state is under 12 and ineligible for vaccination against covid-19 -- which is a threat to their health and educations.
Attorney Tom Mars of Rogers, representing parents Veronica McClane and Ashley Simmons, argued that legislative leaders "brazenly violated" Supreme Court rules by citing matters outside the record made so far in Fox's court.
"First, reaching new heights of absurdity, the Legislative Appellants assert for the first time on appeal that the legitimate governmental interest served by Act 1002 is 'keeping the peace and encouraging vaccinations,'" the Mars legal team wrote.
"There is no evidence in the record of any 'dissension' among the public or anything else that would support this justification for Act 1002."
The Mars team also criticized legislative leaders for citing a study from Georgia indicating that mask use has a statistically insignificant effect.
"In fact, as the Legislative Appellants must know, virtually every study of the effectiveness of face masks in K-12 schools during this school year has shown just the opposite, i.e., that mask mandates are highly effective in protecting K-12 school children."
The Mars team also argued that the value of masks is a matter of proof to be decided later by the Pulaski County court.
It further argued that Act 1002 is an invalid intrusion into gubernatorial and judicial authority.
Attorneys for the Little Rock and Marion school districts -- Chris Heller, Khayyam Eddings and Cody Kees -- argued that the request for the stay should be denied, in part, because the Arkansas Constitution requires a general, suitable and efficient system of public education.
"A 'general, suitable and efficient system' of public education is not one which may be accessed only at great risk to the students and their teachers," the school attorneys wrote.
"There is no rational basis for the General Assembly, in the face of a raging pandemic which is increasingly harming and indeed killing young unvaccinated children, to confiscate from the Little Rock School District, the Marion School District and other public school districts in Arkansas, a simple and effective tool which they would otherwise use for the protection of those who learn and work in their schools."
The school attorneys also questioned the timing of the stay request from the Act 1002 defenders.
"Legislative Appellants claim that they are irreparably harmed by the circuit court's injunction, but they failed to seek an immediate stay in the circuit court when it preliminarily enjoined Act 1002 of 2021 on August 6, 2021," the attorneys wrote.
"Instead, the Legislative Appellants allowed the circuit court's injunction to take effect and then waited almost a month before they filed their motion for stay in this Court. ... Legislative Appellants' own conduct belies their feign of irreparable harm."
Attorneys for Hyde and Higgins argued that Act 1002 creates arbitrary distinctions between similarly situated Arkansans.
They noted that it makes an exception for state-run juvenile and adult correctional facilities, allowing them to mandate face coverings, but not for local correctional facilities.
"Finally, Act 1002 conflicts with the constitutional powers of county judges," the attorney team led by Pulaski County Attorney Adam Fogleman wrote.
"County judges in Arkansas have the authority and obligation, as the custodian of county property, to provide reasonably safe environs to county officers, the circuit courts, and the public."
SCHOOL CASES DOWN
Active cases among teachers and employees at public school districts and among those at colleges and universities and private elementary and secondary schools were continuing to decline, a Health Department report indicated Monday.
In public school districts, the number of active cases fell by 535, to 2,130, from Thursday to Monday.
The Springdale School District, the state's largest by enrollment, continued to have the largest number of active cases, 78, as well as cumulative cases, 729, dating back to Aug. 1.
Its active-case total, however, was down from 93 on Thursday.
The Fort Smith School District on Monday had the second-highest number of active cases, 70, followed by the Rogers School District, with 66. The Cabot and Greene County Tech school districts each had 50 active cases.
Other active-case totals on Monday included 46 in the West Memphis School District, 43 in the Jonesboro School District, 36 in the Little Rock district and 23 in the El Dorado School District.
In all, 136 of the state's 262 public school systems, including charter school systems, had five or more active cases. That was down from 152 systems on Thursday.
School districts with fewer than five active cases are not individually identified, but the numbers are included in the total number of cases.
Private schools had 51 active cases on Monday, down from 66 on Thursday. The only school identified Monday was Shiloh Christian Schools in Springdale, which had eight active cases.
Colleges and universities had 308 active cases Monday, down from 406 on Thursday.
The University of Arkansas, Fayetteville was listed as having the largest number, although its total fell from 111 on Thursday to 81 on Monday.
Harding University in Searcy had the second-highest total on Monday, with 24.
On its website, with numbers differing from those listed in the Health Department reports, UA said its active covid-19 cases as of Sunday had fallen to their lowest total since the Aug. 23 start of the fall semester.
Active cases decreased to 37 from 78 three days previously.
The most recent total comprised 33 student infections and four staff cases.
FEWER HOSPITALIZED
Monday's statewide increase in cases was larger by 74 than the one the previous Monday.
As a result, the average daily increase in the state's case count over a rolling seven-day period rose by about 11, to 1,095.
The number of covid-19 patients in the state's hospitals fell by 26, to 835.
The number who were on ventilators, however, rose by two for the second straight day, bringing it to 234.
After rising a day earlier, the number of covid-19 patients who were in intensive care fell Monday by 17, to 377, its lowest level since July 26.
In the single digits less than two months ago, the number of intensive care unit beds that were unoccupied rose by 16, to 111.
People with covid-19 made up about 35% of all the state's patients in intensive care on Monday, down from about 37% a day earlier.
"I was real pleased to see that we had less than 500 new cases and that the total active cases were continuing to drop," Dillaha said.
Vaccinations and people with immunity after recovering from infections may be contributing to the drop in new cases since early August, she said.
She noted that infections among children peaked later than those among adults but have since been on the decline.
"I think school contributed to the spread, but then I think they turned it around with mask requirements," she said.
She said 33 of the deaths reported Monday happened within the past month, and the others occurred earlier in August.
Craighead County had the most new cases on Monday, 43, followed by Benton County, which had 36, and Pulaski County, which had 32.
The state's cumulative count of cases rose to 493,120.
Dillaha said 10% of the state's coronavirus tests were positive during the seven-day span ending Monday, up from the 9.4% that was initially reported for the week ending Thursday.
Hutchinson has said he wants to keep the percentage below 10%.
The number of people who have ever been hospitalized in the state with covid-19 grew Monday by 54, to 26,220.
The number who have ever been on a ventilator rose by 15, to 2,692.
CLINICS ANNOUNCED
The Health Department said its health equity office, in partnership with cities, is offering Pfizer booster shots at four clinics in October and November in Pine Bluff, Fort Smith, West Memphis and Little Rock "to ensure minority populations have equitable access to vaccines" as well as monoclonal antibodies.
Flu shots and covid-19 vaccines for people who are not yet fully vaccinated will also be available.
Each clinic will also offer lunch and hold a $500 raffle for those receiving shots.
Dillaha said the clinics are "in a sense, follow-up clinics" to ones that were held about eight months earlier.
"They're inviting those people who were vaccinated with Pfizer vaccine to come back and get a booster, but they're also willing to vaccinate anyone that wants to be vaccinated that needs a first or a second dose," she said.
Health Department spokeswoman Katie White said the raffles are being funded with "community donations," and federal covid-19 funds will be used to buy the lunches.
After the vaccinations, some of the clinics will be converted into infusion centers to offer monoclonal antibodies to people with mild to moderate symptoms of covid-19 who developed the symptoms within 10 days of the clinic, according to a Health Department news release.
The department also announced several "pop-up booster clinics" planned over the next few weeks.
VACCINATIONS DOWN
Despite the rollout of the Pfizer boosters, Health Department figures continued to indicate a slowdown in the state's vaccinations.
At 2,131, the increase in vaccine doses that providers reported having administered, including second and third doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, was the sixth one in a row that was smaller than the one a week earlier.
Already at its lowest level since the week ending July 15, the average number of doses administered each day over a rolling seven-day period fell to 5,253.
According to the CDC, the number of Arkansans who had received at least one vaccine dose rose Monday by 962, to 1,676,649, representing about 55.6% of the state's population.
The number who had been fully vaccinated rose by 1,520, to 1,368,926, or about 45.4% of the population.
In addition to the Pfizer boosters, third doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines were authorized last month for certain people with compromised immune systems.
According to the Health Department, the number of Arkansans who had received a third vaccine dose rose Monday by 613, to 23,541.
Among the states and District of Columbia, Arkansas continued to rank 37th in the percentage of its population that had received at least one vaccine dose and 42nd -- ahead of Louisiana, Georgia, Tennessee, North Dakota, Mississippi, Alabama, Idaho, Wyoming and West Virginia -- in the percentage that was fully vaccinated, according to the CDC.
LOTTERY WINNINGS
After rising a week earlier, the number of people claiming winnings from lottery tickets distributed as rewards for receiving a vaccine dose fell last week by 52, to 227, said Scott Hardin, a spokesman for the state Department of Finance and Administration.
Hutchinson announced in late May that Arkansans who received a shot on May 26 or after would be eligible for one of the $20 scratch-off tickets or a pair of gift certificates for hunting and fishing licenses worth a total of $21.
People can claim the rewards at vaccination clinics organized by the Health Department or the Arkansas Foundation for Medical Care or by taking their vaccination cards to one of the department's local health units.
Health Department spokeswoman Danyelle McNeill said 21,214 lottery tickets and 8,620 Game and Fish Commission gift certificates had been given out as of Monday.
So far, one person, a Texas man who had been visiting relatives in Arkansas, has won $1 million from one of the tickets, and one person has won $1,000.
The other winnings, in amounts ranging from $20 to $500, rose last week by $9,750, to $263,130.
One more $1 million ticket remained in circulation in the game, known as the $1 Million Spectacular, along with one $50,000 prize and one $10,000 prize.
Information for this article was contributed by Jaime Adame of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.