The Arkansas Department of Health recorded 8,171 new covid-19 cases on Saturday. It was the state's second-highest daily increase ever, but it also broke a run of four record-setting days.
The tally was 263 fewer than Friday’s all-time record, but still 384 more than Thursday’s total, according to Health Department data.
Active, or currently infectious, cases continued to climb Saturday. The increase of 6,672 active cases on Saturday pushes the current total to a record of 57,382, just one day after the state topped 50,000 active cases for the first time since the pandemic reached Arkansas in March 2020.
The state has recorded 613,014 coronavirus cases over the past 95 weeks. More than 9.3% of those are currently infectious.
“As we approach 60,000 active cases across Arkansas, we continue to see hospitalizations on the rise,” Gov. Asa Hutchinson tweeted Saturday. “Action is being taken to ensure we have adequate bed space for both COVID and non-COVID patients in the weeks ahead.”
Hospitalizations reached 970 on Saturday, and the increase of 37 from Friday marked the ninth consecutive double-digit daily increase. The number of covid-19 patients on ventilators dropped by four to 131, and the number of in intensive care remained at 279, according to Health Department data.
Pulaski County recorded 1,482 new cases Saturday, the third-highest number of new cases ever reported in a single county. On Dec. 30, Pulaski County became the only one in the state to record more than 1,000 new cases in a single day. It has now done that seven times.
Benton County had 636 new cases, and Washington County had 606 on Saturday.
The state Health Department has reported the deaths of 9,314 Arkansans from covid-19 since March 2020, including 16 deaths recorded Saturday.
More details in Sunday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.