Dropping for the 10th consecutive day, the number of people hospitalized with covid-19 in Arkansas fell to 999 on Friday, the first time the number was below 1,000 since late July.
The state's count of cases rose by 1,809, the third consecutive daily increase that was smaller than the one a week earlier. It also marked one week of daily increases smaller than 2,000.
The state's death toll from the virus, as tracked by the Arkansas Department of Health, rose by 17, to 7,412.
"For the sixth day in a row, the number of active COVID cases has decreased," Gov. Asa Hutchinson said in a tweet. "Our hospitalizations are also at the lowest point since late July. We’re continuing to move in the right direction, and we need everyone’s help to stay on that path."
After rising for the previous two days, the number of the state's virus patients who were on ventilators fell by eight, to 298.
However, the number who were in intensive care rose for the third consecutive day, climbing from 456 as of Thursday to 469.
Arkansas hospitals on Friday reported 75 fewer covid-19 patients. It was the second-largest drop in total patients in a single day since the state's first case was diagnosed in March 2020, second only to a drop of 86 patients on Jan. 20. Friday's drop represented almost 7 percent of all hospitalizations; other days with fewer hospitalized covid-19 patients have reported larger percentage drops.
The decrease Friday lowered the number to 999, its lowest level since July 26.
The number of hospitalized patients in Arkansas has fallen from an all-time high of 1,459 on Aug. 16. As of Friday, the number was also smaller by 372 than its peak in January during the state's winter surge.
The number of covid-19 patients who were in intensive care was still down from an all-time high of 558 on Aug. 23, but larger by 11 than its peak in January.
The number of those patients on ventilators, while down from its high of 388 late last month, remained larger by 30 than its January peak.
Friday continued the state's longest streak without a daily increase of more than 2,000 cases since July 24, when the state reported more than 2,000 new cases in a single day for the first time since early February.
Since then, the state hadn’t previously gone more than three days without a one-day increase of more than 2,000.
The average daily increase in the state's case count over a rolling seven-day period fell to 1,515, its lowest level since July 26.
Already at its lowest level since July 28, the number of cases that were considered active fell by 93, to 16,308, as recoveries and deaths outpaced new cases.
Meanwhile, the increase in vaccine doses that providers reported having administered, including second and third doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, was 7,208, the third increase in a row that was smaller than the one a week earlier.
The average number of doses administered each day over a rolling seven-day period fell to 6,474, its lowest levels since July 19.
More details in Saturday's Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.