Almost half of Arkansas adults are fully vaccinated against covid-19, though the disease's prevalence in the state has been increasing throughout the month, according to the Arkansas Department of Health.
"51.4% of Arkansans 18 [and older] have at least one dose of the vaccine, and we are slowly building on that every day," Gov. Asa Hutchinson tweeted Saturday. "Help the state out and find a location near you and get your shot."
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About 47.7% of adults statewide have been fully vaccinated, state Epidemiologist Jennifer Dillaha said.
"It's slow, but we're continuing on an upward climb to get our communities with a greater proportion of immunity, which is important for our state as the variants of concern, particularly the Delta variant [first found in India], continue to circulate more widely," Dillaha said.
Arkansas had 2,489 active cases Saturday, 377 more than a week earlier and 708 more than two weeks earlier, according to Health Department data. Hutchinson mentioned in his tweet that the 251 new cases Saturday was slightly lower than the 264 on June 12.
The number of Arkansans hospitalized with covid-19 has also been rising, with 244 Saturday compared with 197 a week earlier and 235 Friday. There were 63 covid-19 patients on ventilators Saturday, five more than Friday.
"There's usually a little bit of a lag in hospitalizations, but [active cases] are on a fairly steady upward climb, and that means hospitalizations will follow on a steady upward climb," Dillaha said.
The number of vaccinations given per day has steadily decreased for weeks and has been below 7,000 for most of June, according to Health Department data. On Saturday, 5,519 vaccinations were given.
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"I, of course, would like to see more, but I'm thankful that we are still seeing several thousand people get a dose of vaccine on most days," Dillaha said.
She said the Health Department still encourages mask-wearing, social distancing and avoiding large groups, "particularly in situations where you don't know if everyone is vaccinated or not."
She also said a prevailing misconception about covid-19, which could discourage people from getting vaccinated, is that only older adults and people with chronic health conditions can contract severe symptoms of the illness.
"People of any age can have severe disease, and people who have had covid, even mild conditions, can suffer long-term consequences," Dillaha said. "People tend to overestimate the risk of the vaccine and underestimate the risk of the disease, and they make a misinformed decision. They decide not to get vaccinated, but the information they're basing their decision on is not accurate."
There were no new deaths from covid-19 Saturday, so the state's total remained at 5,874, according to the Health Department.
Pulaski County had the most new covid-19 cases Saturday with 36. Benton, Faulkner, Stone and Washington counties all had 13 cases each, and Jefferson and Saline counties both had 12 each.
Arkansas has seen a total of 345,472 covid cases since March 2020.