The number of Arkansans hospitalized with covid-19 fell for the eighth consecutive day on Saturday, though the number of those patients in intensive care saw the highest one-day jump this month.
Arkansas reported 91 covid patients in intensive care on Saturday, up from 84 on Friday in the largest jump since Feb. 28. However, the state has now had four consecutive days of fewer than 100 covid patients in intensive care, according to data from the Arkansas Department of Health. Until this week, state officials had not reported fewer than 100 covid patients in ICUs since June 2021.
Total covid hospitalizations fell Saturday by 11, to 257. The number of covid patients on ventilators fell by two, to 47. Both numbers were last seen in June 2021.
The state recorded 548 new covid-19 cases Saturday, 150 fewer new cases than were reported the Saturday a week earlier. The state Health Department has recorded 826,201 cases since the pandemic reached Arkansas a little more than two years ago. Of those cases, 812,877 are considered recovered.
Active, or currently infectious, cases also reached the lowest level since June. The Health Department reported 2,196 active cases, down 138 from Friday and down more than 100,000 from its peak driven by the omicron variant less than two months ago.
The Health Department recorded 28 covid deaths for the second consecutive day on Saturday. Arkansas' official death toll now stands at 10,892 since the state recorded its first deaths from the virus on March 24, 2020.
Demand for covid-19 vaccines has been on the decline for weeks. The state reported that 1,335 shots were distributed Saturday, down 707 from the same day a week earlier.
More details in Sunday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.