New covid cases at 195 as virus spread slows

Mia Cervantes, 12, looks away as nurse Carol Wright gives her the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine during a back-to-school vaccine clinic at Little Rock Southwest High School on Saturday, Aug. 21, 2021. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Stephen Swofford)
Mia Cervantes, 12, looks away as nurse Carol Wright gives her the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine during a back-to-school vaccine clinic at Little Rock Southwest High School on Saturday, Aug. 21, 2021. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Stephen Swofford)

In another sign of the coronavirus's slowing spread in Arkansas, the state's count of cases rose Monday by less than 200 for the first time in more than three months.

After not changing from Saturday to Sunday, the number of people hospitalized in the state with covid-19 fell Monday by 20, to 669, reaching its lowest level since July 15.

The state's death toll from the virus, as tracked by the Department of Health, rose by 12, to 7,752.

In a tweet, Gov. Asa Hutchinson pointed to the number of cases in the state that were considered active as another encouraging indicator.

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That number fell by 1,008, to 8,535, as recoveries and deaths outpaced new cases.

It was the 23rd day in a row that the number fell, and it marked the first time it had been below 9,000 since July 14.

"With a large drop today we have nearly 3,000 fewer active cases than last Monday, a hopeful sign that we are moving back in the right direction, but COVID-19 is still a serious virus and getting vaccinated is the best way to continue this downward trend," Hutchinson said in his tweet.

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Arkansas' count of cases rose Monday by 195, the smallest daily increase since June 21, also a Monday, when it grew by 90.

Due to slowdowns in testing and reporting over the weekend, the state's daily case increases tend to go down on Sundays and Mondays.

Still, the most recent increase was smaller by 275 than the one a week earlier.

After rising a day earlier, the average daily increase in the state's case count over a rolling seven-day period fell to 734, its lowest level since the week ending July 10.

Health officials have said the decline in new cases in Arkansas, and more recently in the country as a whole, after a surge powered by the delta variant is likely due at least in part to people gaining immunity through vaccinations or infections.

But Dr. Jennifer Dillaha, the Health Department's chief medical officer, cautioned that the number of people with covid-19 in Arkansas remains high.

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She said she still recommends that people, whether vaccinated or not, take precautions such as wearing masks in indoor public places and crowded outdoor environments and avoiding crowded indoor spaces with poor ventilation.

"Our number of total active cases needs to be a lot lower than it is now, and the number of people vaccinated needs to be a lot higher than it is now" for people to stop taking such precautions, she said.

She also noted that the United Kingdom, which was hit by the delta variant before the United States, had a rise in new cases after its initial surge over the summer, despite having higher vaccination rates.

"I would say that the possibility of us having another delta surge is still a real possibility," Dillaha said.

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Except for on Sunday, the number of patients hospitalized with covid-19 in Arkansas has fallen every day for the past two weeks.

The number of the state's virus patients who were on ventilators, which rose by 23 on Sunday, fell Monday by 14, to 192.

After rising by 22 on Sunday, the number who were in intensive care fell Monday by 30, to 311, its lowest level since July 19.

The number of intensive care unit beds that were unoccupied rose by 15, to 116.

People with covid-19 made up 29% of the state's patients in intensive care on Monday, down from 32% a day earlier.

SCHOOL CASES DOWN

A Health Department report released Monday showed active cases also continuing to decline among students and employees at Arkansas' public elementary and secondary schools.

From Thursday to Monday, the number of such cases fell by 392, to 1,668, a decline of 19%.

The number Monday was down from a record high of 4,833 on Sept. 6.

Since then, Health Department reports released twice a week have shown the number steadily declining.

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The cumulative number of covid-19 cases among public school students and employees since Aug. 1 is approaching 20,000, rising to 19,969 as of Monday.

The Springdale School District, the state's largest, continued to have the highest number of active cases, although its total fell from 89 on Thursday to 65 as of Monday.

Over the same period, the active-case totals fell from 57 to 48 in the Rogers School District and from 64 to 46 in the Fort Smith School District.

In the Pulaski County Special School District, however, the number of active cases rose from 23 on Thursday to 37 as of Monday.

The neighboring Little Rock School District, the state's second-largest, had 27 cases Monday, the same number listed on Thursday.

In all, 102 of the state's public school systems had five or more active cases Monday, down from 123 systems on Thursday.

The state doesn't identify individual districts with fewer than five cases in an effort to protect patient privacy, but the cases from those districts are included in the totals.

The state's private schools had 57 active cases Monday, down from 64 on Thursday. Trinity Christian School in Texarkana, with five active cases, was the only private school identified Monday.

Colleges and universities were listed as having 193 active cases Monday, down from 240 on Thursday.

The University of Arkansas, Fayetteville continued to have the highest number of cases with 43 on Monday.

That was down from 50 on Thursday, however.

At Arkansas Tech University in Russellville, which had the second-highest number on both days, the number of cases that were active fell by four, to 15.

Separately, the Little Rock School District reported that six students and one employee at six campuses had tested positive for covid-19 in the 72 hours ending at 3 p.m. Monday.

An additional 29 students were required to quarantine, including 11 at McDermott Elementary School, after being near an infected person.

CASES BY COUNTY

Statewide, Pulaski County had the most new cases reported Monday, 22, followed by Washington and Benton counties, which each had 17.

The state's cumulative count of cases rose to 498,257.

Dillaha said all of the deaths reported Monday happened within the past month.

She said 8.3% of the state's coronavirus tests were positive during the seven-day span ending Sunday, down from the 8.9% that was initially reported for the week ending Thursday and a high during the summer of 16.3% for the week ending Aug. 4.

Hutchinson has said he wants to keep the percentage below 10%.

The number of people who have ever been hospitalized in the state with covid-19 rose by two, to 26,543.

The number who have ever been on a ventilator rose by the same number, to 2,746.

LOTTERY WINNINGS

Meanwhile, despite a recent uptick in vaccinations, the number of people claiming winnings from lottery tickets distributed as rewards for receiving a vaccine dose fell last week for the second week in a row.

Scott Hardin, a spokesman for the state Department of Finance and Administration, said 224 tickets were cashed in last week, down from 227 the previous week.

Hutchinson announced in late May that Arkansans who received a shot on May 26 or after would be eligible for one of the $20 scratch-off tickets or a pair of gift certificates for hunting and fishing licenses worth a total of $21.

People can claim the rewards at vaccination clinics organized by the Health Department or the Arkansas Foundation for Medical Care or by taking their vaccination cards to one of the department's local health units.

People who haven't previously claimed one of the rewards can qualify for one by receiving a third vaccine dose, such as a booster shot of the Pfizer vaccine, Health Department spokeswoman Katie White said.

Another department spokeswoman, Danyelle McNeill, said 21,985 lottery tickets and 8,831 Game and Fish Commission gift certificates had been given out as of Monday.

A total of 6,288 lottery tickets had been cashed in as of last week, Hardin said.

So far, one person, a Texas man who had been visiting relatives in Arkansas, has won $1 million from one of the tickets, and one person has won $1,000.

The other winnings, in amounts ranging from $20 to $500, rose last week by $9,940, to $273,070.

One more $1 million ticket remained in circulation in the game, known as the $1 Million Spectacular, along with one $50,000 prize and one $10,000 prize.

VACCINATIONS UP

At 2,436, the increase on Monday in vaccine doses that providers reported having administered, including second and third doses of the Pfizer vaccines, was the seventh one in a row that was larger than the one a week earlier.

The latest included 679 first doses, marking the fifth daily increase in first doses that was larger than the one a week earlier.

Of the other doses reported Monday, 942 were second doses and 810 were third doses.

Information on the dose number was missing for five of the doses.

The average number of total doses administered each day over a rolling seven-day period rose to 8,266, the highest average since the week ending Sept. 6.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of Arkansans who had received at least one vaccine dose rose Monday by 1,510, to 1,690,014, representing about 56% of the state's population.

The number who had been fully vaccinated rose by 1,954, to 1,386,941, or about 46% of the population.

Among the states and District of Columbia, Arkansas continued to rank 37th in the percentage of its population who had received at least one vaccine dose and 42nd -- ahead of Louisiana, Georgia, Tennessee, North Dakota, Mississippi, Alabama, Idaho, Wyoming and West Virginia -- in the percentage who were fully vaccinated.

Nationally, 64.9% of people had received at least one dose, and 56% were fully vaccinated.

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