State’s active covid cases drop to lowest level since June

Hospitalizations rise by 7 in state after weekend dip

A ventilator is shown next to a hospital's intensive care bed set up for covid-19 patients in this Aug. 17, 2021, file photo. (AP/Rogelio V. Solis)
A ventilator is shown next to a hospital's intensive care bed set up for covid-19 patients in this Aug. 17, 2021, file photo. (AP/Rogelio V. Solis)

Continuing a decline from the peak it reached last month, Arkansas' active coronavirus case total -- representing people who have tested positive and are still potentially infectious -- fell Monday to its lowest level since late June.

After falling by 12 from Friday to Sunday, the number of people reported to be hospitalized in the state with covid-19 rose Monday by seven, to 346.

Meanwhile, for the second day in a row, the state didn't report any new deaths from covid-19. The death toll, as tracked by the Department of Health, remained Monday at 11,822.

Arkansas' total count of coronavirus cases rose Monday by 462, which was larger by 25 than the increase Sunday and by 21 than the rise the previous Monday.

It was the third daily increase in the past four days that was larger than the one a week earlier.

State Epidemiologist Mike Cima noted that the increase in cases on a given day typically reflects tests that were performed over a span of a few days.

When the state's new cases are examined by the date of symptom onset or date of the test result, rather than when the result was reported, the trend appears to be "firmly in the downward direction," he said.

"That's why I feel confident in saying we're still headed down," Cima said.

With recoveries outpacing new cases, the number of cases in the state that were considered active fell Monday by 860, to 11,044, its lowest level since June 29.

During the wave of infections that appears to have crested last month, the highest the active case total reached was 16,946 on July 20.

Cima said the number of covid-19 patients in the state's hospitals, which had been above 400 less than two weeks earlier, also appears to be trending downward.

Over the past five months, the highest the number reached was 442 on July 20.

"It may be a little bit volatile in the day-to-day changes, but overall the hospitalizations are coming down, and I expect them to continue to do so," Cima said.

In Arkansas and nationwide, most cases in recent weeks have been caused by a version of the omicron variant known as BA.5.

Cima said a total of eight cases of another variant, BA.4.6 have been identified in Arkansas over the past several weeks.

"The overwhelming majority are still BA.5 and its descendants," Cima said.

According to estimates from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 88.8% of cases nationwide last week were caused by BA.5, up from 87.1% the previous week.

Over the same period, the estimated percentage of cases caused by BA.4.6 rose from 4.6% to 5.1%.

Within Arkansas, Pulaski County had the largest total number of new cases, 61, on Monday, followed by Washington County with 46 and Craighead County with 37.

After falling slightly a day earlier, the average daily increase in the state's case count over a rolling seven-day period rose slightly, to 896, which was still down from an average of 962 a day the previous week.

The state's cumulative count of cases since March 2020 rose Monday to 917,523.

After falling by 12 from Friday to Sunday, the number of the state's virus patients who were reported to be in intensive care rose Monday by 10, to 57.

The number who were on ventilators fell by two, to 17.

At its hospitals in Little Rock and Springdale, Arkansas Children's had 10 covid-19 patients on Monday, down from 18 on Friday and 12 the previous Monday, spokeswoman Hilary DeMillo said.


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