Arkansas' number of coronavirus cases rose by 1,155 Wednesday -- the largest jump so far this week and one that exceeded the daily increase the previous Wednesday.
The state death toll from the virus, as tracked by the state Department of Health rose by 23, to 1,751.
Meanwhile, Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who attended a meeting Friday with someone who later tested positive, tested negative again for the virus Wednesday, a spokeswoman said.
"Governor Hutchinson received two negative COVID-19 test results today, a negative antigen test this morning and a negative [polymerase chain reaction] test this evening," spokeswoman Katie Beck said in an email.
Hutchinson said Tuesday that he was not required to quarantine because he wasn't within 6 feet of the person who tested positive but still would limit his activities out of an "abundance of caution."
"The Governor will continue holding virtual meetings and limiting public appearances this week out of concern for the comfort level of others," Beck wrote.
Hutchinson said Tuesday that he also tested negative for the virus on Monday. Health Secretary Jose Romero has said Hutchinson will be offered tests again Friday and Monday.
In a news release on the day's virus numbers, Hutchinson urged Arkansans to "be careful of the social gatherings and remind each other that wearing a mask protects those around us."
"We are testing at record levels, and we continue to see a high number of new cases across Arkansas," Hutchinson said.
"Compared to last Wednesday, we are plus 76 cases. Today we have 14 counties with more than 20 cases, once again highlighting the fact that this virus is not contained to one part of the state."
Beck said the 3,438 tests performed Tuesday by the Health Department's public health laboratory set a one-day record for the lab.
State Epidemiologist Jennifer Dillaha called the increase in cases "very distressing."
"I think people are letting their guards down," she said. "They're not practicing social distancing and wearing masks, and they are not avoiding large groups of people, and it shows."
HOSPITALIZATIONS FALL
The state's count of cases confirmed through polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, tests rose by 981, to 95,399.
Its tally of "probable" cases, which include those identified through less-sensitive antigen tests, rose by 174, to 6,197.
After reaching record levels on Monday and Tuesday, the number of people hospitalized with covid-19 fell Wednesday by one, to 636, even as 98 patients with the virus were newly admitted to hospitals.
Similarly, the number of patients who were on ventilators fell by two, to 99, despite 14 patients who were placed on the breathing machines for the first time.
The number of Arkansans who have ever been hospitalized with covid-19 rose to 6,526, while the number who have ever been on ventilators rose to 796.
The state's cumulative count of confirmed and probable cases rose to 101,596.
The number of those cases considered active rose by 98, to 8,520, as 1,034 Arkansans were newly classified as having recovered.
That remained below the state's peak of 8,904 active cases as of Sunday.
Despite the different classifications, the Health Department has said it treats confirmed and probable cases the same for the purposes of its contact-tracing efforts.
That includes requiring people whose results are positive from either type of test to isolate themselves and for those they may have infected to quarantine.
'A TOUGH CALL'
At a virtual town-hall event, hosted by the American Democracy Project, at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith, Hutchinson was asked how the escalating covid-19 numbers and deaths in the state have affected him personally.
"This last weekend, I called the spouse of a teacher, and the teacher had died and had died of covid. And that's a tough call to make to the family member," Hutchinson responded.
"But I have to make those, just like I make the call to the family of a law enforcement officer that gets killed in the line of duty. So these are not easy things to do."
He said he felt "a lot of pressure" to have only virtual classes at public schools.
Instead, he has said he expects school buildings to be open to students every day when classes are held.
"I knew that for many students, you really had to have in-classroom instruction as an option," Hutchinson said.
"And so we insisted upon that. Did that put teachers at risk? Certainly, it emphasized that, you know, they've got to protect themselves, and there's an enhanced risk. And those were tough decisions that I made."
He said his faith helps him manage the difficulties and that physical exercise also helps keep him mentally prepared.
About the pandemic, Hutchinson said that "for a while, this was an urban phenomenon."
"Well, that's changed," he said. "And even though the volume of cases is not that high, the percent of cases and the per capita is very significant in our rural communities."
He stressed the importance of wearing masks and social distancing, as well as having good hygiene.
With holidays approaching, he said it's important to take precautions for any family or group get-togethers.
He said the virus is spreading less from workplaces and schools than from home and social gatherings.
This "doesn't mean to stop being social and stop seeing family," Hutchinson said.
"I've got grandkids," he said. "I see them, but we are careful. And so our hugs are quick. We wear a mask when we're -- when we should, and we sort of navigate where we have a little bit more distance. And so there's a carefulness even among the family that I think is important."
He said cases are going up "all across the country."
Medical professionals expect a "tough winter," he said, adding that Arkansans should get flu shots, as he has done.
"If you look at the trend line over the last four weeks, it's been fairly consistent in our growth in cases," he said.
"We have not skyrocketed. We have not gone down. It has been fairly consistent, which tells me we're doing some good in controlling the spread, but that the cases are still too high, and there's a lot of virus that's out there that we have to guard against."
CAUTION URGED
Dillaha said the virus continues to spread at sporting events, places of worship and gatherings such as parties, weddings, funerals "where people come together for social reasons, and they are not adhering to the recommendations to maintain a distance and wear a face covering."
"We've heard anecdotal stories of lots of people out in some of our resort towns in Arkansas, in the community, not wearing face coverings, crowded sidewalks," she said.
"It's concerning to me that we have this level of spread when the weather is good. I'm worried about what's going to happen when the weather is bad, and people are doing things indoors where there will be even more spread."
Dillaha said the Health Department presented Hutchinson with a list of options for curbing the spread of the virus that included limiting social gatherings to 10 or fewer people.
A similar restriction was in place earlier in the pandemic, when the daily increases in the state's virus cases were much smaller.
The limit has since been expanded to allow larger events as long as less than 66% of the venue's capacity is occupied.
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Events with more than 100 people must also have a plan approved by the Health Department.
While Hutchinson hasn't imposed new limits on gatherings, Dillaha said she would still recommend that people avoid gatherings, as well as avoid unnecessary trips to the store.
"I would encourage them to be very thoughtful about the places that they go where there could be groups of people that would expose them, because right now the risk for exposure for people being out and about is much higher than it was just a month or two ago."
REVISED GUIDANCE
Dillaha also said that a change Wednesday in the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's guidance for contact tracing won't affect the Health Department's efforts.
According to a report in The Washington Post, the CDC changed its definition of a "close contact" who is required to quarantine because of exposure to someone with the virus.
Previously, the CDC had defined a "close contact" as someone who had been within 6 feet of an infected person while the person was infectious for 15 consecutive minutes.
The new guidance defines a close contact as someone who was within 6 feet of the infected person for a total of 15 minutes over a 24-hour period, regardless of whether the minutes were consecutive or spaced out over that period.
Dillaha said the CDC's previous guidance was ambiguous, so the Health Department had already been using the standard of 15 total, rather than consecutive, minutes.
"We felt that was the most reasonable approach for us here in Arkansas," she said.
She added that someone can be a "close contact" of an infected person even if they were near the person for fewer than 15 minutes.
For instance, the CDC's definition on its website includes people who provided care at home to someone sick with covid-19; someone who hugged or kissed an infected person; a person who shared eating utensils with an infected person; and a person who was coughed or sneezed on by someone with covid-19.
PRISON OUTBREAKS
The state's count of cumulative and confirmed cases grew Wednesday by 95 in Pulaski County, 65 in Izard County, 59 in Benton County, 57 in Washington County, 54 in Craighead County and 52 in Jefferson County.
Among prison and jail inmates, the state's count of cases rose by 107.
Such increases can reflect new cases or ones that were added earlier but were not immediately classified as coming from a jail or prison.
Cases among inmates are also sometimes added several days after a test is conducted after information from laboratory reports is entered into a state database.
Department of Corrections spokeswoman Cindy Murphy said that, from Monday to Wednesday, the number of cases among inmates grew by 123, to 272, at the North Central Unit in Calico Rock, which is in Izard County.
Over the same period, the number of cases among inmates grew by 29, to 137, at the Tucker Unit in Jefferson County; by 24, to 147, at the McPherson Unit in Newport; by seven, to 290, at the Pine Bluff Unit; and by two, to 1,341, at the Ouachita River Unit in Malvern.
Of those prisons, the North Central Unit had the largest number of cases that were still active, 140.
The Corrections Department also said this week that a prisoner from the Ouachita River Unit had become the state's 47th inmate to die from the virus.
The inmate, who was in his mid-60s and serving a 20-year sentence for rape, died Tuesday at Baptist Health-Hot Spring County in Malvern, the department said.
NURSING HOME CASES
Izard County's 220 active cases Wednesday translated to a rate of 161 such cases per 10,000 residents.
That was the highest rate in the state.
The next-highest rate, 99 cases per 10,000 residents, was in Lawrence County, the site of the state's largest outbreak affecting a nursing home.
Health Department reports listed Lawrence Hall Health and Rehabilitation in Walnut Ridge as having 120 cases among residents as of Friday, up from 49 on Oct. 12.
Over the same period, the number of cases among workers at the home grew from 32 to 62.
Two residents at the home had died of the virus as of Friday, up from one on Oct. 12.
Health Department spokeswoman Danyelle McNeill said the home, which has 150 beds, as of last week had the highest number of cases among residents, as well as the highest number of staff cases, of any nursing home in the state.
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"We are providing guidance to them via phone and onsite visits," McNeill said in an email.
Possibly because of testing slowdowns over the weekend, the state's daily case increases tend to start small early in the week and grow larger as the workweek progresses.
Wednesday was the second day in a row when the number of cases added to the state's tallies exceeded the increase on the same day of the week a week earlier.
Wednesday's growth was the largest since Oct. 15, when the state added a record 1,278 cases to its tallies.
The day before that, on Oct. 14, the state's case count rose by 1,079.
Over a rolling seven-day period, the average daily increase in cases rose from 873 as of Monday to 896 on Tuesday and 907 as of Wednesday.
That was just short of the record daily average growth rate of 911 cases a day during the week that ended Oct. 15.
'VIRTUAL' WEDNESDAYS
The Texarkana Arkansas School District on Wednesday became the latest to announce that it will reduce the number of days of on-site instruction it offers to ease the workload on teachers.
Starting Nov. 4, every Wednesday will be a virtual learning day where students who opted for in-class instruction will learn online from home.
"After nine weeks of school, we realize our students and staff need additional support," the district said in the announcement, posted on its website. "As a result, we must adapt to the current need and make the necessary changes to support teaching and learning in an effort to ensure success."
Students enrolled in a hybrid or virtual learning track will not have any schedule change. The district said teachers could use the virtual learning day to prepare academic materials and increase engagement with students and families.
"Students who attend school on Virtual Wednesdays may use the time onsite to complete missing assignments," the district said, although no "new learning will take place."
It said meals will still be provided on campus, and buses will run their normal routes.
In its daily coronavirus update, the Little Rock School District reported that one student at Southwest High School had tested positive, and 13 students and one staff member were required to quarantine.
An employee at the Metropolitan Career Tech Center also tested positive, and 10 students and three other employees at several schools were required to quarantine, the district reported.
At Jacksonville High School, one student tested positive for the virus, resulting in 14 students being sent home and quarantined for two weeks, the Jacksonville-North Pulaski School District announced Wednesday.
The Conway School District listed seven positive student cases and less than five positive faculty cases on its website, where the district posts daily updates of case numbers. It has 109 students and 11 faculty members quarantined.
BREAK PLANNED
The University of Central Arkansas announced Wednesday that it plans to have a week of spring break from March 22-26.
"Upon our return from Spring Break, we will host voluntary COVID-19 testing events on campus," UCA President Houston Davis said in a message to the campus.
Some colleges have eliminated spring break because of the pandemic, citing concerns about students traveling and then returning to campus. Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia last week announced plans for more single-day breaks next spring rather than a traditional weeklong spring break.
Davis said keeping spring break "will allow us to counteract some of the overload and fatigue many are experiencing this fall."
The Conway campus has 8,337 undergraduates and 1,720 graduate students attending classes, according to preliminary state enrollment data. It will start spring semester classes on Jan. 19.
"It is a week later than usual in order to give faculty additional time to plan for the spring semester and to maximize students' time off campus during the first few months of cold and flu season," UCA spokeswoman Amanda Hoelzeman said in an email.
She described the virus trends on campus as remaining stable. The campus published its weekly update on covid-19 cases Wednesday, with 16 new positive results identified from campus testing during the seven-day time period ending Tuesday, during which 662 tests were done. The new positive results decreased from 24 positive results identified from on-campus testing in the previous seven-day period, when 575 tests were done.
Among colleges with a larger enrollment than UCA, Arkansas State University has said it plans to keep its traditional spring break. No announcement has been made by the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville.
COLLEGE CASES
The Health Department's most recent statewide covid-19 report on Monday listed Harding University as tops among colleges and universities with 75 active cases.
Schools have often reported on their websites different numbers from the state, however, and Harding, a private Christian university in Searcy, updated its website Wednesday to list 30 student and four employee cases considered active. Last week, Harding on its website listed more than 90 active cases.
The University of Arkansas, Fayetteville ranked second in active cases with 49, according to Monday's statewide report. On its website Wednesday, UA listed 23 active cases as of Tuesday, a total that includes 18 students. The campus Monday and Tuesday identified six new positive cases, including five self-reported positive test results and one from on-campus testing.
UA also announced Wednesday that it has converted part of a campus parking deck into a dedicated respiratory clinic where patients can be seen separately from the main campus medical center.
"This temporary clinic strengthens our ability to diagnose and treat other types of infections outside of COVID 19 while maintaining a safe environment for patients and staff," Dr. Huda Sharaf, medical director for UA's Pat Walker Health Center, said in a statement. She said the clinic will provide testing and care for all respiratory illnesses.
UA spokesman Mark Rushing said in an email that the new clinic is "semi-outdoors in a drive-up and walk-up format." All other medical care continues to take place at the main health center building or through telehealth appointments, Rushing said, with the new setup a way to keep different types of patients separate.
Rushing also said UA began this week a new initiative to boost voluntary covid-19 testing first announced Oct. 15 by Chancellor Joe Steinmetz in his all-campus address. Rushing said a sample of 500 students has been invited to be tested, with 300 to receive a $20 gift card that can be used at the main campus bookstore and other Barnes & Noble locations.
"The gift cards are limited to the first 300 students who set up an appointment to be tested by Monday, Oct. 26, and then follow through with testing," Rushing said. "We'll consider additional incentives if needed to encourage testing. We plan to repeat this initiative or something very similar with other groups of students throughout the remainder of the semester."