Rising for the third day in a row, the number of people hospitalized with covid-19 in Arkansas reached its highest level Tuesday in more than seven weeks.
Meanwhile, likely reflecting a slowdown in testing and reporting on Memorial Day, the state's count of cases rose by 179, the first increase in five days that was smaller than the one a week earlier.
Also, for the first time in more than a week, the state didn't report an increase in covid-19 deaths. The death toll, as tracked by the Department of Health, remained at 11,484.
The number hospitalized rose by five, to 76, its highest level since April 8.
After rising by one on Monday, the number of the state's virus patients who were on ventilators remained Tuesday at five.
The number who were in intensive care, which didn't change on Monday, fell Tuesday by three, to 12.
The increase in cases on Tuesday was smaller by 61 than the rise on Monday and less than half the size of the one the previous Tuesday.
After reaching a more than two-month high a day earlier, the average daily increase in the state's case count over a rolling seven-day period fell Tuesday to 320.
With recoveries outpacing new cases, the number of cases in the state that were considered active fell by 143, to 3,760, its second straight daily decline.
