Arkansas' upward trend in new coronavirus cases continued on Monday as the number of people hospitalized in the state with the virus jumped to its highest level in almost three months.
Rising for the third day in a row, the number hospitalized grew by 18, to 176, its highest level since March 19.
The state's count of cases rose by 332 — almost double the size of the daily increase a week earlier.
For the second time in four days, however, the state didn't report any new deaths from covid-19.
The state's death toll, as tracked by the Department of Health, remained at 11,526.
While smaller by 117 than the increase on Sunday, the rise in cases on Monday was larger by 159 than the one a week earlier.
Due to slowdowns in testing and reporting on weekends, the state's new case numbers tend to be smaller on Sundays and Mondays than on other days.
The average daily increase in the state's case count over a rolling seven-day period rose Monday to 631, its highest level since the week ending March 1.
Already at its highest level since Feb. 24, the number of cases in the state that were considered active rose by 96, to 6,946, as new cases continued to outpace recoveries.
The number of the state's virus patients who were on ventilators, which didn't change on Sunday, rose Monday by two, to seven.
Dropping for the third straight day, the number who were in intensive care fell by one, to 20.