The coronavirus appeared to continue to spread rapidly in Arkansas over the weekend, with the state's count of cases growing by more than 2,500 over a three-day span, the number of hospitalized virus patients rising by more than 100 and the state's death toll since the start of the pandemic topping 6,000.
The number of cases that were considered active surpassed 10,000 over the weekend for the first time since Feb. 15.
The rise in hospitalizations included a spike of 79 on Monday, which state Epidemiologist Jennifer Dillaha said was Arkansas' largest increase in a single day so far.
The previous record was set Dec. 28, when the number rose by 62.
The number also rose by 62 on Jan. 4.
"We saw good vaccine numbers over the weekend, with an increase of nearly 16,000 doses administered," Gov. Asa Hutchinson said in a tweet Monday.
[Video not showing up above? Click here to watch » https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBk5Zibo7Gk]
"Unfortunately, we also saw an increase of over 100 hospitalizations. Nearly all patients hospitalized with COVID-19 have not been fully vaccinated, so get your shot today."
Reflecting the state's decision last month to stop giving updates on weekends, Monday was the first time the Department of Health had released information on cases, hospitalizations, deaths and other indicators since Friday.
The figures showed that the state's count of cases rose by 1,430 -- the second-largest increase in a day since February -- on Saturday.
The count rose by 579 on Sunday and 543 on Monday, for a total increase of 2,552.
That was more than 25% higher than the increase over the same three days a week earlier.
The average number of cases added to the state's tallies each day over a rolling seven-day period rose to a five-month high of 1,113 as of Saturday before dipping Sunday, then rebounding to 1,094 as of Monday.
[CORONAVIRUS: Click here for our complete coverage » arkansasonline.com/coronavirus]
The increase in hospitalized patients included rises of five on Saturday and 22 on Sunday.
It brought the number as of Monday to 787, its highest level since Feb. 5.
The number of virus patients who were on ventilators fell by three Saturday, then rose by the same number on Sunday and by 10 on Monday, bringing it to 129, its highest level since Feb. 10.
The number of patients who were in intensive care rose over the three days by 51, to 291, its highest level since Feb. 4.
The state's death toll, as tracked by the Health Department, rose by 15, to 6,007.
Two of the deaths were reported Saturday, one was reported Sunday and 12 were reported Monday.
Dillaha said all of the deaths happened within the past month.
The number of cases that were considered active rose Saturday and Sunday, reaching a five-month high of 10,645 before falling to 10,505 as of Monday.
Dillaha said she worried that the spread of the virus, which she and other officials have blamed on the highly transmissible delta variant and the state's low vaccination rate, will continue to accelerate.
"That is my big fear," she said.
"I'm really concerned about that -- that it will just keep finding people who are not immune. The only way to turn it around is to make people immune before they're exposed to it, and the way you do that is through vaccinations."
To encourage more Arkansans to get the shots, Hutchinson this month began holding meetings around the state to answer residents' questions about the virus and vaccines.
On Monday, he announced dates and times for additional "community covid conversations" that he plans to hold next week.
They will be at 11:30 a.m. Monday in Mountain Home, 11 a.m. July 27 in Dumas, 6 p.m. July 28 in Heber Springs and 11 a.m. July 30 in Siloam Springs.
Further details on the locations will be released later this week, Hutchinson's office said.
VACCINATION UPTICK
Over the past several days, Health Department figures have indicated the pace of vaccinations in the state is increasing, with the uptick driven by people receiving their first doses.
From Friday to Monday, the number of doses administered, including second doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, rose by 15,750.
That was more than 3,700 doses more than the increase during the same days a week earlier.
Already at its highest level since the week ending May 31, the average number of doses administered each day over a rolling seven-day period rose to 6,279.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of Arkansans who had received at least one dose rose by 17,852 from Friday to Monday.
A week earlier, the number grew by 10,044 over the same three days.
The average increase per day over a rolling seven-day period rose Monday to 4,495, its highest level since the week ending May 26.
"I think people are recognizing the sense of urgency and realizing they need to start getting vaccinated now because of the accelerated spread of covid-19," Dillaha said.
According to the CDC, 44.1% of Arkansans had received at least one vaccine dose as of Monday, and 35.4% were fully vaccinated.
Among the states and District of Columbia, Arkansas ranked 45th in the percentage who had received at least one dose and 49th, ahead of only Mississippi and Alabama, in the percentage who were fully vaccinated.
Nationally, 56.1% of people had received at least one dose, and 48.6% were fully vaccinated.
CLINIC CLOSING
The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences' vaccination clinic on 12th Street in Little Rock hasn't seen a recent increase in the number of patients arriving for shots, UAMS spokeswoman Leslie Taylor said.
She said the number of patients arriving for shots has dropped from hundreds a day to 20-25 a day.
The clinic will close Friday, but UAMS will continue offering vaccinations in the city at its internal and family medicine clinics at its main campus and at its Women's Center near South University Avenue and Interstate 630.
On Twitter on Saturday, university Chancellor Cam Patterson said UAMS Medical Center was full, with its number of covid-19 patients continuing to increase.
"We are staffing inpatients in the ER and recovery room," Patterson, a cardiologist, said.
"No space for transfers. Running out of caregivers. Support health care workers. Mask up. Get vaxxed."
Taylor said the hospital had 56 covid-19 patients as of Monday, up from 44 a week earlier and approaching the record of 63 who were in the hospital during the state's winter surge in January.
Compared to then, she said, the hospital now has more patients who don't have covid-19, -- possibly a result of patients putting off care earlier in the pandemic -- which has added to the strain.
"We can add beds," Taylor said. "One of the big problems that we're having, though, is having enough staff.
"If we don't have the nurses and the techs that we need to staff these patients, we can have beds, but that doesn't really help, so that has been a big struggle for us."
The hospital late last month opened a designated unit for covid-19 patients for the first time since it closed a similar unit in March. It added a second covid-19 unit about a week ago.
Of the virus patients at the hospital on Monday, 25 were in intensive care, 14 were on ventilators and five were on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, or ECMO, machines, which are similar to heart-lung bypass machines used in open-heart surgeries.
Taylor said seven of the covid-19 patients had been fully vaccinated.
She said all seven had health conditions besides covid-19, including two who had weakened immune systems.
Some had been at the hospital for reasons other than covid-19, then discovered they had the disease as a result of routine testing performed on the hospital's patients, Taylor said.
Baptist Health's 11 hospitals in Arkansas had 155 covid-19 patients as of Monday, up from 140 a week earlier and 76 on July 4, spokeswoman Cara Wade said in an email.
She said the health system had "converted some private rooms to semi-private for non-critical COVID positive patients" to accommodate the increase.
"Available hospital beds, including ICU beds, are extremely limited across the entire Baptist Health system, and the availability varies hourly," Wade said.
She said 93% of the covid-19 patients, including 98% of those under age 50, had not been vaccinated.
VARIANTS REPORTED
According to a Health Department report, the number of cases in Arkansas found to have been caused by the delta variant, which first emerged in India, rose last week by 192, to 417.
The number known to have been caused by the alpha variant from the United Kingdom rose by 68, to 488.
The Health Department also reported an increase from 32 to 37 in the number of cases found to have been caused by the gamma variant from Brazil and from 42 to 44 in the number known to have been caused by variants from California.
The total number of cases caused by such variants is unknown because only a small percentage of specimens are sent to laboratories for the genomic sequencing used to determine the strain of the virus.
CASES BY COUNTY
Dillaha said 14% of the state's coronavirus tests were positive during the seven-day span ending Sunday, up from the 13.3% that was initially reported for the week ending Thursday.
Hutchinson has said he wants to keep the rate below 10%.
Health Department data indicated that Pulaski County had the largest increase in total cases from Friday to Monday, with the count rising by 448.
Benton County had the next-largest increase, 220, followed by Faulkner County with 162, Washington County with 154, Saline County with 130 and Craighead County with 113.
State prisons had 45 new cases among inmates on Monday, Department of Corrections spokeswoman Janie Runkle said.
The largest number, 16, was at the Northwest Arkansas Work Release Center in Springdale.
In Malvern, the Ouachita River Unit had 13 new cases, and the Omega Supervision Sanction Center had 10.
The state also had three new cases among inmates at the Northeast Arkansas Community Correction Center in Osceola, two at the Southwest Arkansas Community Correction Center in Texarkana and one at the Northwest Arkansas Community Correction Center in Fayetteville.
From Friday to Monday, the number of people who have ever been hospitalized with confirmed infections in the state rose by 107, to 17,759.
The number who have ever been on a ventilator rose by seven, to 1,799.