After rising to a record level a day earlier, the number of Arkansans hospitalized with covid-19 fell Thursday amid signs that the spread of the virus was continuing to decline after weeks of rapid increases powered by the omicron variant.
The number hospitalized, which rose by 34 Wednesday, fell Thursday by 31, to 1,788.
The state's count of cases rose by 6,016, which was down by 545 from the increase a day earlier and by more than 5,100 from the one the previous Thursday.
The state's death toll from the virus, as tracked by the Department of Health, rose by 22, to 9,596.
"Today's decline in hospitalizations will provide some relief to our health care system," Gov. Asa Hutchinson said in a tweet.
"Our hospitals across the state are working tirelessly to ensure space is available for all who need it."
[CORONAVIRUS: Click here for our complete coverage » arkansasonline.com/coronavirus]
He also noted that the nearly 80,000 cases in the state that were active as of Thursday, representing people who have tested positive and not recovered or died, was down by almost 18,000 compared with a week earlier.
Hutchinson met Thursday with his "covid winter task force," made up of hospital executives, Health Department officials and others, to discuss ways of increasing the state's hospital capacity but didn't announce any new measures afterward.
Dr. Jennifer Dillaha, the Health Department's chief medical officer, said the department is moving forward with a request, set to go before the Legislative Council today, to use $4.7 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds to open 27 beds for covid-19 patients at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Medical Center in Little Rock.
Those are in addition to 265 beds at 11 hospitals that the state earlier this month allocated $50.1 million in federal funds to temporarily open and staff.
Dillaha said the state is also requesting that 10 beds at veterans hospitals be made available to non-veterans to further increase the state's hospital capacity.
"We're going to continue to monitor and assess the needs for additional beds very closely," Dillaha said.
PEDIATRIC DEATHS
Also Thursday, Health Department spokeswoman Danyelle McNeill said the state's count of pediatric deaths from covid-19 rose last month from three to four.
She declined to say when the fourth death occurred.
According to previous reports, the other deaths occurred in late 2020 and in July and August of last year.
As of Thursday, 7,031 of the state's covid-19 deaths, or more than 73% of the total, had been of people age 65 and older, according to the Health Department's online coronavirus dashboard.
Of the other Arkansans who have died from the virus, 22 were ages 18-24, 130 were ages 25-34, 308 were ages 35-44, 638 were ages 45-54 and 1,463 were ages 55-64.
Meanwhile, Dillaha said the Health Department won't release updates on the state's coronavirus numbers -- such as cases, deaths and hospitalizations -- Saturday or Sunday as it switches to a new data system.
She said the department also won't release updates on the state's vaccination numbers Saturday, Sunday or Monday because "the vendor for that is transitioning data to the cloud" on those days.
Daily updates will resume Tuesday on the state's vaccination numbers and Monday on the state's other coronavirus numbers.
DECLINING CASES
Since Jan. 18, the number of covid-19 patients in the state's hospitals has been above its previous peak of 1,459 in August during the surge driven by the delta variant.
During last winter's surge, the number peaked at 1,371 in January 2020.
Because it can take several days for someone to become sick enough to be hospitalized after they're infected, health officials have said it wouldn't be surprising for the number of hospitalized covid-19 patients to keep rising even after new cases have peaked.
During the current surge, the average for daily new cases over a rolling seven-day period has mostly fallen since reaching a high of 9,122 the week ending Jan. 16.
After dropping by more than 1,100 Wednesday, the average fell Thursday by 735, to 6,965.
It was the first time the average had been below 7,000 since the week ending Jan. 11.
With recoveries and deaths outpacing new cases, the number of cases in the state that were considered active fell by 4,539, to 79,687, the first time it had been below 80,000 since Jan. 13.
It was the fifth day in a row the active case totals had fallen after reaching an all-time high of 102,576 Saturday.
In another sign of the slowing spread of the virus, the percentage of the state's coronavirus tests that are positive has been slowly falling after skyrocketing in late December and early January.
Over the seven-day span ending Wednesday, the percentage was 31.3%, down from the 32.6% that was initially reported for the week ending Tuesday.
On Wednesday, Dillaha said the record high for the percentage was 35.9% over the seven-day spans ending Jan. 16, 17 and 18.
On Thursday, however, she said the percentage for the week ending Jan. 17 had risen even higher, to 36.1%, after more results were reported.
Hutchinson has said he wants to keep the percentage below 10%, but it has been higher than that since the week ending Dec. 22.
MORE ON VENTILATORS
Despite the decrease in the number hospitalized, the number of the state's virus patients who were on ventilators and in intensive care both rose Thursday after falling a day earlier.
The number who were on ventilators rose by 24, to 247, its highest level since Sept. 23.
The number who were in intensive care rose by 12, to 495.
Since Saturday, the number in intensive care has been above its peak of 458 last winter, although it remains below the all-time high of 558 it reached in the summer of last year.
The number of covid-19 patients on ventilators peaked at 388 in the summer of last year and at 268 last winter.
At hospitals around the state, just 25 intensive care unit beds were unoccupied Thursday, up from 23 a day earlier.
The percentage of all the state's intensive care unit patients who had covid-19 rose from 40% as of Wednesday to 41%.
PROCEDURES CONTINUE
At its 11 hospitals around the state, Baptist Health had 348 covid-19 patients Thursday, down from 362 a day earlier and a record 368 Tuesday, spokeswoman Cara Wade said in an email.
The number of the health system's virus patients who were in intensive care fell Thursday by one, to 108, while the number who were on ventilators fell by three, to 79.
"Though it's not been easy, we have fortunately been able to keep surgeries going as scheduled for our patients," Wade said.
"We can't thank our staff enough who have continued to take extra shifts and those who have worked in different roles and departments in order to take care of the patients that are depending on us."
As of earlier this week, she said just 10% of the health system's covid-19 patients had been fully vaccinated and had received booster shots.
An additional 22% were fully vaccinated but had not received boosters.
UAMS Medical Center had 95 covid-19 patients Thursday, up from 86 Wednesday but still down from a record 99 Tuesday, spokeswoman Leslie Taylor said.
Despite the overall increase, the number who were in intensive care fell by one, to 15, Thursday. The number who were on ventilators also fell by one, to six.
Of the 95 patients Thursday, 43 had been fully vaccinated, Taylor said. She didn't have information on how many had received booster shots.
"About 30% of the patients in our hospital who have covid were admitted for some other reason, and it was discovered that they had covid after they were here," Taylor said.
"Many of those are the patients who were vaccinated."
At its drive-thru clinic, the hospital tested 376 people Wednesday, down from 414 a day earlier and from an average of 800 a day earlier in the month, Taylor said.
She said UAMS, which has about 11,000 employees, had 432 employees who were out Thursday for reasons related to covid-19, down from 449 a day earlier.
The number who had tested positive for covid-19, however, rose from 208 Wednesday to 213.
The number of UAMS health care workers who were out fell from 261 Wednesday to 258.
Of those, 137 had tested positive for covid-19, up from 135 a day earlier.
At its hospitals in Little Rock and Springdale, Arkansas Children's Hospital had 38 covid-19 patients Thursday, up from 37 a day earlier but still down from a record of 46 on Jan. 19, spokeswoman Hilary DeMillo said.
The patients Thursday included five who were in intensive care and three who were on ventilators.
More than half of the patients were at least 5 years old, making them eligible for vaccination, but only seven had been fully immunized.
CENTER'S REPORT
In a weekly report, the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement said that, for the second week in a row, all 234 of the state's "contiguous school districts" had at least 50 or more new cases per 10,000 residents over a recent-two week period.
During the most recent period, ending Monday, all but two of the districts had 100 or more new cases per 10,000 residents.
That was up from 227 districts with that many new cases per 10,000 residents a week earlier.
The number of districts with 200 or more new cases per 10,000 residents rose by 16, to 186.
The highest rate was in the Two Rivers School District in Yell County.
It had 426 new cases, translating to a rate of 637 per 10,000 residents, or more than 6% of the district's population.
Five other districts, Mount Vernon-Enola, Danville, Clarendon, Paragould and Stuttgart, also had 500 or more new cases per 10,000 residents, meaning that more than 5% of the residents had recently been infected.
On a map on the Center for Health Improvement's website, districts with 50-99 new cases per 10,000 residents are colored red. Those with 100-199 new cases per 10,000 residents are purple, and the ones with 200 or more new cases per 10,000 residents are pink.
"It's a sign of how quickly and pervasively the omicron variant has spread through our state that as recently as early November, no school district had an infection rate high enough to be in the red zone, and now only two districts have infection rates low enough to be in red zone," Dr. Joe Thompson, the center's CEO, said in a news release.
He encouraged Arkansans to get vaccinated and boosted if they haven't already done so.
"Other precautions continue to be important, especially in schools: high-quality face masks (N95 or KN95 masks are best), social distancing, good hand hygiene and optimal ventilation," Thompson said.
The cases used to calculate the rates for each district include those among residents living within the district, excluding incarcerated people, and residents of nursing homes and human development centers.
TREATMENTS AVAILABLE
While supplies are limited, Dillaha said it's important for Arkansans, especially those who are at risk of severe complications from covid-19, to know that treatments are available.
Those include infusions of sotrovimab, a monoclonal antibody treatment from Vir Biotechnology and GlaxoSmith-Kline that is administered through intravenous infusion, and antiviral pills from Pfizer and Merck that are available from drugstores through a prescription.
Last week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration also approved the use on patients who are not hospitalized of remdesivir, an antiviral medication from Gilead Sciences that's given through infusion.
The FDA had previously approved the drug only for hospitalized patients.
"Our concern has been just hearing anecdotal reports that [providers] have doses that aren't being readily used," Dillaha said.
Also, now that more people are using at-home tests, "people might not know that they're eligible for treatment and that they need to have it within a certain period of time," she said.
For treatments that are in short supply, Dillaha said the highest priority is given to people with compromised immune systems, regardless of whether they have been vaccinated; unvaccinated people who are 75 or older; and unvaccinated people age 65 and older with health conditions, such as diabetes or obesity, putting them at risk of severe covid-19.
The next-highest priority group is unvaccinated people younger than 65 with qualifying health conditions.
CASES BY COUNTY
Pulaski County had the most new cases, 667, Thursday, followed by Benton County with 538 and Washington County with 363.
The state's cumulative count of cases rose to 762,401.
Dillaha said all of the deaths reported Thursday happened within the past month.
The number of people who have ever been hospitalized in the state with covid-19 grew Thursday by 218, to 32,770.
The number of the state's virus patients who have ever been on ventilators rose by 26, to 3,371.
VACCINATIONS DOWN
The Health Department's tally of vaccine doses that had been administered rose Thursday by 5,271, which was smaller by 581 than the increase the previous Thursday.
Booster shots made up 42% of the most recent increase.
The count of first doses rose by 1,550, which was down by 91 from the increase in first doses a week earlier.
The average number of total doses administered each day over a rolling seven-day period fell to 4,609, its lowest level since the week ending July 12.
Already at its lowest level since the Health Department started releasing daily vaccination numbers in January 2020, the average for first doses fell to 1,348.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 64.9% of Arkansans had received at least one dose as of Thursday, up from 64.8% a day earlier.
The percentage who had been fully vaccinated rose from 52.5% as of Wednesday to 52.6%.
Of those who had been fully vaccinated, 35.8% had received booster doses as of Thursday, up from 35.6% a day earlier.
Among the states and District of Columbia, Arkansas continued to rank 37th in the percentage of its residents who had received at least one dose.
In the percentage who were fully vaccinated, it remained roughly tied with Tennessee for 45th, ahead of Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, Wyoming and Alabama.
Nationally, 75.1% of people had received at least one dose, and 63.6% had been fully vaccinated.
Of the fully vaccinated population nationally, 41% had received booster doses.