The number of Arkansans hospitalized with covid-19 continued to go down on Saturday as the state saw the lowest number of new cases reported on a Saturday since the end of May, data from the Arkansas Department of Health showed.
Saturday's tally of new cases was 394, the smallest number reported on a Saturday since May 24 and bringing the number of active cases in the state to 6,887 -- the lowest number of active cases since June 12, when 6,850 were reported.
The day's report brought the rolling seven-day average of new cases for last week to 495, which is the lowest seven-day average since June 6.
Saturday was the second day in a row, however, when 17 new deaths from the virus were reported, bringing the total death toll in the state to 12,080.
The past two Fridays, health department officials have said that the reported fatalities came from clearing out a backlog. Eight of the deaths reported Friday happened within the past month, and the others were from early August, department spokeswoman Danyelle McNeill said.
It wasn't clear if Saturday's reported deaths were part of that backlog.
However, 11 fewer people were hospitalized with the virus Saturday, bringing the number of covid patients in the state down to 261. That was down from the recent high of 296 patients reported hospitalized on Tuesday.
The number of patients being treated in intensive care units for the illness fell by one, to 48, after rising by one Friday.
One less patient with the virus required the use of a ventilator to aid their breathing Saturday, bringing the number of people around the state dependent on the devices to 20.
In Arkansas, a total of 949,582 people have tested positive for the virus since the start of the pandemic.
Of those people currently infected with the virus, 53% were reported to be not fully vaccinated, with 74% of hospital patients with the virus not fully immunized.
As of Saturday, 1,666,476 Arkansans above age 5 -- 58% -- have been fully vaccinated, and a further 846,399 have gotten a third dose or booster, with 1,951 new booster doses reported Saturday, according to state health officials.