Arkansas health officials on Monday identified the state's second coronavirus case known to be caused by an omicron subvariant, sometimes called "stealth omicron," as the number of people hospitalized in the state with covid-19 fell for the 14th day in a row.
The number hospitalized fell by 10, to 1,082.
The state's count of total cases rose by 834, which was larger by 33 than the daily increase on Sunday and by 105 than the one the previous Monday.
Arkansas' death toll from the virus, as tracked by the state Department of Health, rose by 32, to 10,097.
Health Department spokeswoman Danyelle McNeill said Arkansas' first known case caused by the omicron subvariant known as BA.2 was identified on Jan. 31.
The strain owes its nickname to its lack of a genetic trait that makes the original omicron strain easier to track.
Compared with the original strain, known as BA.1, BA.2 also appears to spread more easily, experts have said. However, the subvariant doesn't appear to cause more severe illness, and vaccines appear to have similar levels of effectiveness, according to public health officials.
In some countries, such as Denmark, BA.2 is now the dominant omicron strain. In the United States, however, it makes up only a small percentage of the cases.
McNeill said it's unknown whether either of the known cases of BA.2 in Arkansas were travel-related.
She declined to provide further details about either case, citing health privacy concerns.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the original omicron strain and another subvariant known as BA.3 made up an estimated 96.4% of the coronavirus cases in the United States the week ending Feb. 5, with BA.2 accounting for 3.6%.
NEW CASES UP
The increase in Arkansas' total case count Monday was the third one in four days that was larger than the one a week earlier.
However, a winter storm that hit the state earlier this month caused some testing sites to temporarily close, likely contributing to the lower case numbers a week ago.
"Testing would have just started to rebound after the snow event which likely led to the lower number of cases" on Feb. 7, McNeill said.
She said 14.6% of the state's coronavirus tests were positive over the seven-day span ending Sunday, down from the 17.5% that was initially reported for the week ending Thursday.
"The downward trajectory continues, and will [likely] continue to do so," McNeill said of Arkansas' new case numbers.
"Other states who experienced the omicron surge first have not yet begun to plateau."
The average daily increase in the Arkansas' case count over a rolling seven-day period rose Monday to 1,806.
That was up from a recent low of 1,711 a day the week ending Thursday but still down from an average of 2,616 a day the week ending Feb. 7 and an all-time high of 9,122 a day the week ending Jan. 16.
With recoveries and deaths outpacing new cases, the number of cases in the state that were considered active fell Monday by 2,886, to 16,279, the lowest total since Dec. 29.
Except for Jan. 29 and Jan. 30, when the Health Department didn't release numbers as it switched to a new data system, the active case total has fallen every day since it reached an all-time high of 102,576 on Jan. 22.
After falling the previous two days, the number of the state's virus patients who were on ventilators rose Monday by two, to 165.
Dropping for the eighth straight day, the number who were in intensive care fell by seven, to 334, its lowest level since Jan. 10.
The number of intensive care unit beds in the state's hospitals that were unoccupied fell by one, to 54.
People with covid-19 made up about 28% of all the state's intensive care unit patients on Monday, down slightly from almost 29% a day earlier.
After reaching an all-time high of 1,819 on Jan. 26, the total number of covid-19 patients in the state's hospitals has fallen every day except one.
Since Feb. 8, it has been below its previous peaks of 1,371 in January 2021 and 1,459 last summer during a surge driven by the delta variant.
During the recent omicron wave, the high for the number of covid-19 patients on ventilators was 250 on Jan. 31. That was below its peaks of 268 in January 2021 and 388 in August.
The number in intensive care reached a high during the omicron surge of 515 on Jan. 25. That was above its peak of 458 last winter but below its all-time high of 558 in August.
At its hospitals in Little Rock and Springdale, Arkansas Children's had 18 covid-19 patients on Monday, down from 22 on Friday and an all-time high of 46 on Jan. 19, spokeswoman Hilary DeMillo said.
The patients on Monday included three who were in intensive care and two on ventilators.
More than half of the 18 patients were at least 5 years old, making them eligible for vaccination, but only four had been fully immunized, DeMillo said.
SCHOOL CASES
At public elementary and secondary schools, the number of active cases among students and employees fell by 1,875, to 2,004, from Thursday to Monday, according to Health Department reports released twice a week.
Over the same period, the number of the state's 261 school districts and charter school systems with five or more active cases fell by 49, to 97.
The reports have shown the active case total consistently declining since it peaked at an all-time high of 20,937 on Jan. 20.
The Little Rock School District was listed as having the most active cases, 150, on Monday, followed by the Bentonville School District with 89 and the Cabot School District with 85.
Among students and employees at private elementary and secondary schools, the number of active cases also fell almost in half, from 146 as of Thursday to 76.
Our Lady of Holy Souls School in Little Rock had the highest total, nine, on Monday, followed by Christ the King School in Little Rock and St. Vincent De Paul Catholic School in Rogers, which each had eight.
CASES BY COUNTY
Statewide, Pulaski County had the most new cases, 133, followed by Washington County with 74 and White County with 69.
The state's cumulative count of cases since March 2020 rose to 807,711.
McNeill said 29 of the deaths reported Monday happened within the past month.
Of the others, two occurred in December, and one was earlier in January.
The number of people who have ever been hospitalized in the state with covid-19 grew Monday by 110, to 34,896.
The number of the state's virus patients who have ever been on a ventilator rose by 13, to 3,559.
VACCINATIONS DOWN
The Health Department's tally of vaccine doses that had been administered rose by 786 -- the second-smallest daily increase since the department began regularly releasing daily vaccination numbers in January 2021.
The smallest was Dec. 26, when the count rose by 612.
Booster doses made up about 32% of the most recent increase.
The count of first doses rose by 271, which was the third-smallest increase in first doses since at least January 2021.
The smallest was Feb. 6, after the winter storm, when the number rose by 267.
The average number of total doses administered each day over a rolling seven-day period fell Monday to 2,759, which was still above an all-time low of 2,421 a day the week ending Wednesday.
The average for first doses fell to 885.
According to the CDC, 65.4% of Arkansans had received at least one dose as of Monday, and 53.2% had been fully vaccinated.
Of those who had been fully vaccinated, 37.2% had received a booster dose.
Among the states and District of Columbia, Arkansas ranked 37th in the percentage of its residents who had received at least one dose.
In the percentage of those fully vaccinated, it ranked 45th, ahead of Tennessee, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, Wyoming and Alabama.
Nationally, 75.9% of people had received at least one dose, and 64.4% were fully vaccinated.
Of the fully vaccinated population nationally, 42.9% had received a booster dose.