The number of people hospitalized with covid-19 in Arkansas has continued to trend upward, hitting a record high Monday for the second day in a row, according to the state Department of Health.
The number of covid-19 patients currently hospitalized rose by 12, bringing the state's daily hospitalization count to 974. The previous high of 962 was set Sunday, and the record before that -- 935 -- was set Friday.
There were 1,017 new cases of covid-19 reported in Arkansas on Monday. Thirty more people have died from the virus, bringing the state's death toll to 2,387.
In a written statement, Gov. Asa Hutchinson called attention to the steady climb of hospitalizations while noting that the number of new cases was lower than what was reported the previous Monday. There were 1,308 new cases Nov. 16.
"We saw a decrease in new cases from last Monday, and this is a hopeful sign; but our hospitalizations are still going up. How we handle Thanksgiving this year will determine our hospitalizations around Christmas. Thanks for being a part of turning this fight around," Hutchinson said.
November is the first month in which new cases topped the 2,000 mark in a single day. This month has seen three days of new cases exceeding that level.
The state saw its highest number of new cases on Nov. 13, at 2,312, with the second-highest coming on Thursday, with 2,238 infections. The third-highest number of new cases was reported on Friday, at 2,061.
Monday's report from the state Department of Health also showed that 1,906 people recovered from the virus. Between those recoveries and the deaths of another 30 people, the number of active cases dropped by 919 on Monday, to 16,727.
State Epidemiologist Jennifer Dillaha said new cases and hospitalizations are the two numbers to pay attention to each day, but that it was too soon to know if a decline in the number of new cases from the previous Monday to this one meant that the trend was changing.
"To see a number that was lower than a week ago Monday was a little bit of a ray of hope. It's hard to know if there's much significance to it, time will tell, but it is my hope that we potentially could see a downward trend if people truly do their part to reduce spread," Dillaha said by phone Monday. "I think whether we see an upward trend or a downward trend will be very much related to how well we handle the holidays."
Dillaha advised Arkansans to "have a small, intimate Thanksgiving." Ideally, that means only the people in one's household, and not more than 10 people if multiple households are involved.
"We have a long way to go before we can become complacent," she said.
She encouraged people to minimize their trips out in public and to plan ahead to limit trips to the grocery store, as well as to continue wearing masks, even if one plans to be more than 6 feet away from others when out.
"People should be very conservative with that, and if they're in a group of people who are not maintaining at least 6 feet or they're not wearing face masks, people should turn around and go the other way. It's not worth the risk being exposed to someone," she said.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, a total of 146,190 Arkansans have been infected with covid-19, according to the state Health Department. The first coronavirus case in Arkansas was reported March 11.
HOSPITAL CAPACITY
Dillaha said hospital capacity is a concern in the state, as some facilities struggle to maintain sufficient staffing and have a number of employees out sick with the coronavirus or quarantined because of exposure.
"If we're going to keep going in this direction, then our hospitals have got to get ready," she said.
Of the 9,144 total hospital beds in Arkansas, 2,530 were available as of Monday, Department of Health spokeswoman Danyelle McNeill said. Of the 1,136 intensive care unit beds, 76 were available. Of the 1,032 ventilators, 609 were available.
Of people receiving treatment for the virus in a hospital, 384 were in intensive care units, and 164 were on ventilators as of Monday, up one from Sunday.
There have been a total of 8,523 Arkansans hospitalized with covid-19 since the start of the pandemic, and 945 have been on ventilators.
The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences had 40 coronavirus patients, with 19 in the ICU, as of Monday, spokeswoman Katrina Dupins said. The medical center has 64 ICU beds. Despite having recently added 12 beds, the ICU is still considered at "ICU max," a status that does allow room for additional patients if necessary.
UAMS had 340 employees quarantined as of Monday, down from about 400 the previous week.
CASES IN STATE
Dillaha noted that none of the deaths reported Monday were delayed, meaning they all took place in the past week. Sometimes it takes multiple weeks for the Health Department to receive a death certificate, so at times the state has reported deaths a month or two after they took place.
"The deaths that were reported today, we don't really have any delayed reports. They're all recent, and it's just very disheartening to see the number of deaths because these are all people that had families, people who loved them, who are experiencing a tremendous loss right before the holidays," Dillaha said.
With hospitalizations rising, more deaths are expected, she added.
Of the new infections reported Monday, 912 were classified as confirmed and 105 were list as probable.
Of the new confirmed cases, five were attributed to correctional facilities.
Results from 10,693 polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, tests were reported to health officials Sunday, along with 890 results from antigen tests. Results from 246,248 PCR tests and 39,456 antigen tests have been reported so far in November.
The Arkansas counties with the highest numbers of new confirmed and probable cases added Monday were Pulaski County with 157; Washington County with 75; Benton County with 69; Sebastian County with 57; and Saline County with 54.
Those counties were also among those with the highest counts of active covid-19 cases, which included: Pulaski County with 1,809; Washington County with 1,383; Benton County with 998; Sebastian County with 721; Craighead County with 704; White County with 619; and Saline County with 617.