Covid hospitalizations in Arkansas reach 400, but signs point to virus slowing

Nurse Takela Gardner looks over a patient's chart before entering a room in one of the Covid wards at University of Arkansas for Medical Science on Thursday, July 22, 2021, in Little Rock. .More photos at www.arkansasonline.com/725covid/.(Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Thomas Metthe)
Nurse Takela Gardner looks over a patient's chart before entering a room in one of the Covid wards at University of Arkansas for Medical Science on Thursday, July 22, 2021, in Little Rock. .More photos at www.arkansasonline.com/725covid/.(Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Thomas Metthe)

The number of people hospitalized with covid-19 in Arkansas reached 400 again on Tuesday despite further signs that the spread of the virus in the state is gradually slowing after reaching a peak last month.

The state also reported an additional nine deaths from covid-19. Including those, a total of 50 had been reported in the past week -- the most over a seven-day span since early April.

The death toll from the virus, as tracked by the Department of Health, rose Tuesday to 11,728.

State Epidemiologist Mike Cima said all the deaths reported Tuesday happened within the past month.

Because of reporting delays, as well the amount of time it can take for someone to succumb to complications from covid-19 after being infected, it's common for the number deaths reported each day to continue rising after new cases start to decline.

"We may see an increase from where we were certainly, March, April, May, a little bit higher than that, but certainly nowhere near where we have been during surges of the past," Cima said.

Arkansas' record for the most covid-19 deaths reported over seven days is the 322 -- translating to an average of 46 a day -- that were reported the week ending Dec. 22, 2020.

During the initial surge of infections from the omicron variant this past winter, the largest weekly number for deaths was the 298 that were reported the week ending Feb. 17.

After not changing a day earlier, the number of covid-19 patients in the state's hospitals rose Tuesday by 14, to 400.

The number as of Tuesday was still down from 418 a week earlier, however, and a four-month high of 442 that the number reached on July 20.

"We tend to see that bouncing up and down of hospitalizations when we've reached a point where cases are no longer growing or starting to turn down," Cima said.

"It may be like this for another few days, but I do expect hospitalizations to come down here in the very near future."

The state's count of cases grew Tuesday by 1,311, which was smaller by 174 than the daily increase a week earlier.

After rising slightly a day earlier, the average daily increase in the state's case count over a rolling seven-day period fell Tuesday to 1,152. That was down from an average of more than 1,200 a day the previous week and a recent high of 1,506 a day the week ending July 12.

Declining for the third day in a row, the number of cases in the state that were considered active fell Tuesday by 341, to 14,387, as recoveries continued to outpace new infections.

The number of covid-19 patients in intensive care, which fell by nine Monday, remained at 63 Tuesday.

The number on ventilators fell by five, to 16, after rising by one a day earlier.

CASES BY COUNTY

Pulaski County had the most new cases, 133, on Tuesday, followed by Washington County with 114 and Benton County with 87.

The state's cumulative count of cases since March 2020 rose to 905,824.

At its hospitals in Little Rock and Springdale, Arkansas Children's had 15 covid-19 patients on Tuesday, up from 12 on Monday and 11 the previous Tuesday, spokeswoman Hilary DeMillo said.

Of the seven hospital regions listed on the Health Department's online coronavirus dashboard, the largest increase Tuesday in the number hospitalized was in the 14-county Northeast region.

That region had 63 covid-19 patients Tuesday, up from 51 a day earlier.

The number hospitalized grew by 11, to 124, in the six-county Metro region in Central Arkansas; by two, to 31, in the 13-county North Central region; by one, to 47, in the six-county Northwest region, and by one, to 41, in the 17-county Southwest region.

In the other two regions, the number fell. It fell by eight, to 85, in the nine-county Arkansas Valley region in the western part of the state and by five, to nine, in the Southeast region, which has 10 counties.

St. Bernards Medical Center in Jonesboro had 29 covid-19 patients Tuesday, which spokesman Mitchell Nail said was "about the highest we've been since the decline from the early part of this year."

"Our [daily] admissions have typically been anywhere from five to seven in the last few days," Nail said.

"It's a little higher than we'd like, but it's not at a point where we're concerned."

He said the patients on Tuesday included five who were in intensive care. None of the patients were on ventilators, he said.

He said the hospital's covid-19 patients have included some who were initially hospitalized for reasons unrelated to the virus.

"I do think there are some patients who are definitely being hospitalized solely for covid-19 still, and that's playing out, but we're seeing a greater number of patients who are also there for other reasons but also happen to test positive for covid," he said.


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