The number of covid-19 patients in Arkansas hospitals rose to a new six-month high on Thursday, while the state's count of virus cases since March 2020 grew by 2,777.
After dipping Wednesday, the number of covid-19 patients in the state's hospitals rose Thursday by 19, to 1,251, its highest level since Jan. 19.
The state's official death toll from the virus, as tracked by the Arkansas Department of Health, rose by 17, to 6,247.
The number of covid-19 patients who were on ventilators rose by six, to 266, just short of its all-time high of 268 on Jan. 11.
After rising to a record level on Wednesday, the number of covid-19 patients in intensive care fell by five, to 464.
The new-case increase was the third consecutive daily increase that topped 2,000 and the third-highest increase in a single day since January.
The highest since then was a spike of 2,843 cases last Thursday, July 29, followed by the 2,838 new cases reported Wednesday.
[FIND LOCAL VACCINATION LOCATIONS HERE: nwaonline.com/coronavirus/vaccine/]
After reaching its highest level since mid-January a day earlier, the average daily increase in the state's case count over a rolling seven-day period fell slightly, to 2,096.
With new cases outpacing recoveries, however, the number of coronavirus cases in the state that were considered active rose by 902, to 21,461, its highest level since Jan. 18.
Meanwhile, Health Department figures continued to show an uptick in the pace of the state's vaccinations.
The increase in the doses of vaccines that providers reported having administered, including second doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, was 11,685, larger by 968 than the increase a week earlier.
The average number of doses administered each day over a rolling seven-day period rose to 12,379, its highest level since the week ending May 4.
More details in Friday's Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.