Arkansas' count of coronavirus cases rose Wednesday by 954 — the largest one-day spike in almost three months. The number of people hospitalized with covid-19 in the state rose by 13, to 199.
The state's death toll from the virus since March 2020, as tracked by the Arkansas Department of Health, rose by one, to 11,528.
Wednesday's increase in cases was the largest in a single day since March 19, and the first increase since that day to top 900. Most of the 1,131 cases added on March 19 were from a backlog of reports that had been faxed in by providers weeks earlier, during the state’s first wave of infections from the omicron variant.
Previously, the biggest one-day rise in covid cases since March had been the 887 cases that were added a week ago, on June 8.
The average daily increase in the state's case count over a rolling seven-day period rose to 631, its highest level since the week ending March 1. The average — the total number of new cases over the previous week, divided by seven — had fallen on Tuesday.
With new cases continuing to outpace recoveries, the number of cases in the state that were considered active rose by 352, to 7,488. The count of active cases was already at its highest level since Feb. 24.
Wednesday's increase in hospitalized covid-19 patients was the third daily increase in double digits. Even before Wednesday's increase, the count was at its highest level since March 17.
After rising the previous two days, the number of the state's virus patients who were on ventilators remained at eight.
The number who were in intensive care, which didn't change Tuesday, rose Wednesday by six, to 26.
Since the pandemic reached Arkansas, the state Health Department has recorded 852,229 total cases of coronavirus. Of those, 832,983 are considered recovered.
More details in Thursday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.