Arkansas' count of coronavirus cases rose Friday by 780 — a smaller increase than the previous two days but still larger than the one a week earlier — while the number of people hospitalized in the state with the virus fell for the second day in a row.
With new cases outpacing recoveries, the number of cases in the state that were considered active rose by 238, to 8,133, topping 8,000 for the first time since Feb. 23.
For the third time in just over week, however, the state didn't report any additional deaths from covid-19.
The death toll, as tracked by the Department of Health remained Friday at 11,533.
The increase in cases, which followed spikes of 954 on Wednesday and 1,000 on Thursday, was larger by 110 than the one the previous Friday.
Already at its highest level since the week ending Feb. 26, the average daily increase in the case count over a rolling seven-day period rose to 695.
After falling by three on Thursday, however, the number of people hospitalized in the state with covid-19 fell Friday by 15, to 181.
The number of the state's virus patients who were on ventilators, which rose by one on Thursday, remained Friday at nine.
The number who were in intensive care also didn't change, remaining for a third day at 26.