Arkansas' count of coronavirus cases rose Tuesday by 287, the largest daily increase in almost two months, while the number of people hospitalized in the state with the virus rose to its highest level in a week.
For the third day in the past week, however, and the fifth day so far this month, the state didn't report an increase in covid-19 deaths.
The death toll, as tracked by the Arkansas Department of Health, remained at 11,418.
The increase in cases on Tuesday was almost four times the size of the rise a day earlier and larger by 28 than the one the previous Tuesday.
It was the biggest daily increase since March 22, a time when the state's new case numbers were inflated by a backlog of reports faxed in by providers weeks earlier during a surge of infections from the omicron variant.
Growing for the fifth day in a row, the average daily increase in the state's case count over a rolling seven-day period rose to 214, its highest level since the week ending March 27.
With new cases outnumbering recoveries, the number of cases in the state that were considered active rose by 34, to 2,527.
While larger by 471 than the total a week earlier, it was still down from the recent high of 2,586 that the number reached on Sunday.
State Epidemiologist Mike Cima said the state's new cases appeared to be continuing on a gradual trend upward that began a few days after Easter.
A more-transmissible version of omicron known as BA.2.12.1 is likely contributing to the uptick, he said.
According to estimates updated Tuesday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the strain accounted for 47.5% of covid-19 cases nationwide last week, up from 38.8% the previous week.
"All indications are that that particular lineage, if nothing else crops up, will probably become dominant very shortly," Cima said.
He also noted that people infected by the original omicron strain this winter are becoming more vulnerable to a subsequent infection as their immunity wanes.
"We're getting further away from our [January] peak," he said. "We're seeing reinfections. I think certainly that's playing a role, as well."
FEWER ON VENTILATORS
Rising for the second straight day, the number of the covid-19 patients in the state's hospitals grew Tuesday by four, to 56.
Already at its lowest level since March 25, 2020, the number of the state's covid-19 patients who were on ventilators fell by two, to six.
The number who were in intensive care, however, jumped by nine, to 28, the largest number since April 11.
At its hospitals in Little Rock and Springdale, Arkansas Children's had five covid-19 patients on Tuesday, up from four a day earlier, spokeswoman Hilary DeMillo said.
CASES BY COUNTY
Pulaski County had the most new cases, 66, on Tuesday, followed by Washington County with 44 and Benton County with 20.
The Health Department's tally of vaccine doses that had been administered rose by 1,738, which was smaller by 500 than the daily increase a week earlier.
About 37% of the most recent increase was from doses classified on the Health Department's online coronavirus dashboard as not having an "available dose number."
That's how the department is listing second booster doses, which were authorized in March for people who are 50 or older or have compromised immune systems.
The count of doses for people receiving the vaccine for the first time rose by 451, which was down by 135 from the increase in first doses a week earlier.
After rising the previous seven days, the average number of total doses administered each day over a rolling seven-day period fell to 1,374, which was still up slightly from an average of 1,304 a day the previous week.
The average for first doses fell to 308.
According to the CDC, the percentage of Arkansans who had received at least one dose remained Tuesday at 66.9%, and the percentage who were fully vaccinated remained at 54.6%.
The percentage of those fully vaccinated who had received a booster dose remained at 39.9%.
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 46th, ahead of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Wyoming.
Nationally, 77.7% of people had received at least one dose, and 66.5% were fully vaccinated.
Of the fully vaccinated population nationally, 46.4% had received a booster dose.