Covid-19 cases across the state rose by 2,395 Wednesday, the highest number of new cases in a single day since early February, according to data from the state Department of Health.
With new cases outpacing recoveries, the number of cases in the state that were considered active rose by 1,222 cases to 12,505. Active cases rose above that number on Saturday and Sunday, but then plunged Monday and Tuesday before surging again.
"The BA.5 variant is now dominant," Health Department Director Jennifer Dillaha said. "It is a highly transmissible, and its high rate of spread is reflected in the increase in cases."
The new cases on Wednesday brought the state's total case count since March 2020 to 871,467.
There were 277 patients hospitalized with the virus Wednesday. It was the tenth consecutive day of hospitalizations over 200.
The number of virus patients who were on ventilators remained at 11, and the number in intensive care increased by one, to 54.
"We expect the number of people in the hospital to continue to increase as the number of cases continues to increase," Dillaha said.
The state's death toll from the virus since March 2020, as tracked by the Health Department, rose by seven, to 11,596.
PEDIATRIC CASES
The number of pediatric cases are rising as well, with 22 patients currently admitted in Springdale and Little Rock campuses of Arkansas Children's Hospital, spokeswoman Hilary DeMillo said.
"We have seen an increase in admitted patients testing positive, though many are being treated for concerns unrelated to covid-19," DeMillo said. "Their symptoms are consistent with what we have previously seen: respiratory issues, fever, fatigue and headaches."
Across the state, there are 1,566 active covid-19 cases in children ranging in age from newborn to 18 years old.
HOSPITALIZATIONS
The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Medical Center had 11 covid-19 patients Wednesday, a drop from 15 a week ago, spokeswoman Leslie Taylor said.
There are no patients in ICU and none on a ventilator, she added.
"Our hospitalization numbers have stayed fairly steady, with 10-20 patients over the last few weeks," Taylor said, adding that the hospital had one covid-19 death last week, but none since.
Baptist Health spokeswoman Cara Wade said the hospital had 59 covid-19 patients on Wednesday with 11 in intensive care and five on ventilators.
"As a comparison, our highest number was 368 patients hospitalized with covid-19 back in January and last week we had 58 patients with covid in our hospitals," Wade said. "The severity of the illness is relatively mild compared to previous covid-19 surges. Our infectious disease physicians continually monitor and pay attention to these numbers daily, but they do not have any concerns at this point."
Chris Durney, a spokesman for the Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System, said the Little Rock hospital was treating 20 covid-positive patients on Wednesday, with five in acute care areas. The average inpatient count there has been about 23 over the past 10 days, he said.
"All clinics and service are running at full capacity and we are at the moderate protection level for visitation," Durney said.
The CHI St. Vincent system has not seen any significant increase in covid-19 patients over the past several weeks, spokeswoman Bonnie Ward said in an email.
"The majority of patients currently hospitalized with the virus at CHI St. Vincent Infirmary are here as part of an incidental diagnosis, meaning they came to our ministry to address another health issue but also tested positive for COVID-19," Ward said. "Our healing ministry is fortunate that the number of healthcare workers on quarantine for possible exposure to the virus has also remained low."
Ward added that the hospital system has experienced a recent increase in requests for monoclonal antibody infusions and the usage of Paxlovid, an oral antiviral therapy.
In northeast Arkansas, St. Bernards Healthcare has seen a steady increase in hospitalizations in the past few weeks, spokesman Mitchell Nail said.
"We only had eight covid hospitalizations on June 17, but that number has risen to 20 today," Nail said. "Compared with the Delta and Omicron variants, many -- certainly not all -- of our current patients arrived at our hospital for reasons other than covid. Like Omicron, most patients have not needed intensive care. Our covid ICU numbers typically range from one to three patients on any given day."
VACCINATIONS
The number of vaccine doses that providers reported having administered rose by 726, to 4,111,170.
The number of individuals fully immunized increased by 109, to 1,622,253, or 57% of Arkansans ages 5 years and older. The number of Arkansans partially immunized against the virus increased by nine, to 285,980, or 10.1% of the population ages 5 years and older.
As of Wednesday, 690,798 third vaccine doses had been administered.