Covid numbers continue to drop in state, but governor still urges shots

Risk of new surge is question, he says

Neha Sharma, a pharmacist, draws a dose of the Moderna covid-19 vaccine at a UAMS vaccine clinic at University Park in Little Rock in this March 8, 2021, file photo. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Stephen Swofford)
Neha Sharma, a pharmacist, draws a dose of the Moderna covid-19 vaccine at a UAMS vaccine clinic at University Park in Little Rock in this March 8, 2021, file photo. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Stephen Swofford)

Active cases of covid-19 continue to decline in Arkansas, but whether another surge is around the corner is still unknown, Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Sunday.

The number of active cases dropped by 358, to 9,543, according to the Arkansas Department of Health's Sunday update.

The surge that rose to a height of 25,735 active cases in mid-August is on a downward slope, decreasing by about 56% from the 21,675 cases reported the first Sunday of September. However, active cases are still about double what they were at the end of June.

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"The unknown is if there will be another surge this winter," Hutchinson said in his daily social media post on the pandemic. "If you haven't received your first dose, put it on the to-do list. It's our best insurance against cases & hospitalizations."

The Health Department reported 486 new cases across the state. Pulaski County had the highest number of new cases with 55, followed by Washington County with 51 and Benton County with 35.

Hospitalizations remained at 689 over the weekend. Those on ventilators rose by 23 from Saturday's count to 206 in Sunday's update.

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On Sunday, 16 more people were reported dead from the virus. The death toll since March 2020 for the state now stands at 7,740. Of the Arkansans who have died from covid-19, 75% were 65 years or older; 14.6% were 55-64 years old; 6.1% were 45-54; and those ages 35-44 accounted for 2.8%, or 214, deaths, according to Health Department numbers. Ninety-one of the dead, 1.2%, were 25-34 years old; 21 were 18-24 years old; and three were 17 years old or younger.

Since Feb. 1 in Arkansas, unvaccinated individuals have made up 87.5% of total cases, 89.7% of hospitalizations and 87.3% of deaths.

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Another 5,284 doses of vaccine were given, with 1,916 more Arkansans becoming fully immunized, according to Sunday's Health Department update. About 52.6% of those age 12 and up are fully immunized, with another 11.4% partially so. The number of individuals receiving a third dose has risen to 50,448, more than doubling from the previous Sunday.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends the additional dose of covid-19 vaccine (Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna) for people with moderately to severely compromised immune systems -- about 3% of the adult population -- who are especially vulnerable to the virus and may not build the same level of immunity from the two-dose vaccine series compared with people who are not immunocompromised.

[VACCINE INFO: See the latest information on covid-19 vaccines in Arkansas » arkansasonline.com/vaccineinfo/]

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