Arkansas' reports on covid-19 numbers will be immediately affected by the Labor Day holiday, and it will take a few weeks to show how the holiday will fully impact the numbers, officials said Sunday.
The Arkansas Department of Health was closed Sunday and will be closed today for the holiday, spokesperson Meg Mirivel said.
"Tests that would have normally been run those days will be performed Tuesday and included in next week's numbers. The numbers we report [Sunday] and [Monday] include test reports from other labs and providers," Mirivel said. "We do not expect this to impact the numbers a great deal today or tomorrow."
According to the health department report released Sunday, hospitalizations were down by 23 from Saturday, to 1,223 people hospitalized. Of those, 337 were reported to be on ventilators, four more than Saturday.
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Hospitalizations are down slightly from last Sunday, when the health department reported 1,257 hospitalized and 344 on ventilators.
"Today's report does not include the full testing day that is normally reported. We still see similar numbers to a normal weekend," Gov. Asa Hutchinson said in his daily social media post. "The next few weeks will show the impact the long weekend has on our cases and hospitalizations, so let's work to protect ourselves from Covid."
Active cases went down by 376 to 23,343 cases, according to Sunday's report. Active cases have decreased since last Sunday, which had 24,115 active cases, the health department reported. However, the numbers are still higher than they were at beginning of last month.
People in the 25-34 age category make up 14.58%, or 3,404 of the active cases as of Sunday, with ages 35-44 accounting for 13.31%.
Arkansans aged 12-18 make up about 14.08%, or 3,287 of the state's current infections. In total, those 18 years old or younger account for nearly 33% of active cases based on Sunday's numbers.
Craighead saw the most new cases added Sunday with 84, followed by Pulaski County with 70 and Washington County with 65.
The total number of new covid-19 cases increased by 1,072 from Saturday. The total of cases in Arkansas now stands at 463,795 since March 2020, according to Sunday's health department data. Of those total cases, 433,281 recovered.
Another 19 people died from covid-19, Sunday's report shows. The total death toll now stands at 7,057.
According to the report, another 5,315 doses of vaccine were given out, with 3,152 Arkansans becoming fully immunized.
About 48.9% of the state's population 12 and up are fully immunized and another 12.8% are partially immunized. According to the health department, 13,614 individuals have gotten a third dose.