The decline in Arkansas' new coronavirus cases from the peak they reached last month once again showed signs of stalling on Tuesday, a day after the new school year began at more school districts across the state.
The state's count of cases rose by 1,137, an increase that was larger by 84 than the one the previous Tuesday.
After rising the previous two days, however, the number of people hospitalized in the state with covid-19 fell by 17, to 303.
The state's death toll from the virus, as tracked by the Department of Health, rose by nine, to 11,870.
State Epidemiologist Mike Cima said seven of the deaths reported Tuesday happened within the past month.
Of the others, he said, one occurred in March, and one was from June.
He said an uptick in cases among children appeared to be responsible for the larger increase in cases overall on Tuesday compared to a week earlier.
That's similar to what happened early last week, when health officials noticed an increase in new cases among children and young adults ages 12-24 as classes began at some school districts and students returned to college campuses.
"We expected to see some level of increase in our pediatric/adolescent population with covid-19 with school coming back into session, and that's really what's happening so far," Cima said.
As BA.5, a version of the omicron variant, drove an increase in new cases this summer, he said, the rate of infection among children remained "really, really low."
"It's expected that kids just have less exposure during the summer when they're not at school for eight hours a day," Cima said.
As a result, compared to adults, fewer children have immunity developed through recent infections.
He said the state saw a similar uptick at the start of the 2021-22 school year.
If this one plays out the same way, it will be short-lived and limited to younger age groups, he said.
He said he doesn't expect the increase in transmission to lead to a resurgence of hospitalizations or other severe outcomes.
"In general, especially with omicron, it does seem that kids and children do weather the storm a bit better with respect to severe disease compared to individuals who are a little bit older," Cima said.
Reflecting the larger increase in cases compared to a week earlier, the average daily increase in the state's case count over a rolling seven-day period rose Tuesday to 868 after declining the previous six days.
With new cases outnumbering recoveries, the number of cases in the state that were considered active rose by 16, to 10,678.
In another sign that new infections were on the rise, Cima said 17.4% of the state's coronavirus tests were positive over the week ending Monday, up from the 15.4% from what was initially reported for the week ending Monday, despite still being down from the 18.2% initially reported for the week ending Aug. 15.
Pulaski County had the most new cases, 120, on Tuesday, followed by Washington County with 80 and Craighead County with 74.
The state's cumulative count of cases since March 2020 rose to 924,649.
Dropping for the second day in a row, the number of the state's virus patients who were in intensive care fell Tuesday by four, to 68. The number on ventilators, which fell the previous two days, rose by one, to 15.
At its hospitals in Little Rock and Springdale, Arkansas Children's had 15 covid-19 patients on Tuesday, up from 12 a week earlier, spokeswoman Hilary DeMillo said.