Arkansas’ covid deaths up by 11, largest daily increase in more than 3 months

New infections show signs of leveling off

Medical personnel prepare a covid-19 test for Trey Berry, a junior at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, in this Jan. 6, 2021 file photo. The testing was part of a drive-up testing clinic hosted by the Arkansas Department of Health in the parking lot across from Baum-Walker Stadium at the corner of Razorback Road and 15th Street in Fayetteville. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/David Gottschalk)
Medical personnel prepare a covid-19 test for Trey Berry, a junior at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, in this Jan. 6, 2021 file photo. The testing was part of a drive-up testing clinic hosted by the Arkansas Department of Health in the parking lot across from Baum-Walker Stadium at the corner of Razorback Road and 15th Street in Fayetteville. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/David Gottschalk)

Arkansas posted its largest daily increase in covid-19 deaths in more than three months Wednesday as the number of people hospitalized in the state with the virus continued to climb.

Continuing a recent plateau in newly reported infections, however, the state's count of cases rose by 1,835 -- larger by 100 than the increase Tuesday but only by 25 than the one the previous Wednesday.

The state's death toll from the virus, as tracked by the Department of Health, rose by 11, to 11,654. It was the most deaths reported in a single day since April 4.

State Epidemiologist Mike Cima said nine of the deaths reported Wednesday happened within the past month. The other two were from earlier in June, he said.

Including the ones reported Wednesday, a total of 34 deaths had been reported over the past week, up from 24 the previous week.

Given the wave of infections the state has experienced in recent weeks, it's possible the number of deaths reported each day will be elevated for a while, Cima said.

But he said hospitalizations haven't risen to the same degree as the state's new case numbers, and he expects any uptick in deaths to be even less pronounced.

"I don't expect us to approach 40 deaths a day like we were in the peak omicron surge" this past winter, he said.

He stopped short of saying the state's new cases had peaked but called it "a good sign" that the number Wednesday was only slightly higher than the one a week earlier.

Also, he said the percentage of the state's coronavirus tests that are positive had fallen slightly.

Over the seven-day span ending Tuesday, it was 21.4%, down from the 21.5% that was initially reported for the week ending Monday and 22% the week ending July 12.

"This is the first time in quite a number of weeks where that percent positivity was lower week over week, which is definitely a positive sign," Cima said.

Already at its highest level since March 1, the number hospitalized rose Wednesday by six, to 442.

After falling by one a day earlier, the number of the state's virus patients who were in intensive care rose back up by one, to 72.

The number on ventilators, which rose by one Tuesday, remained Wednesday at 14.

CASES BY COUNTY

Pulaski County had the most new cases, 292, on Wednesday, followed by Washington County with 112, Faulkner County with 95, Craighead County with 94 and Benton and Sebastian counties, which each had 89.

The state's cumulative count of cases since March 2020 rose to 890,943.

Growing for the second day in a row, the average daily increase in the state's case count over a rolling seven-day period rose to 1,360.

That was still down from an average of 1,422 a day the previous week, however, and a recent high of 1,506 a day the week ending July 12.

At its highest level since Feb. 13, the number of cases in the state that were considered active rose Wednesday by 204, to 16,946, as new cases outpaced recoveries.

Arkansas Children's Hospital in Little Rock and Arkansas Children's Northwest in Springdale had a total of 12 covid-19 patients Wednesday, down from 15 on Tuesday and 14 the previous Wednesday, spokeswoman Hilary DeMillo said.

At its 11 hospitals around the state, Baptist Health had 89 covid-19 patients, up from 78 a week earlier, spokeswoman Cara Wade said in an email.

"This is nowhere near our record of 368 patients hospitalized with covid-19 back in January, but it's certainly more than we were seeing two months ago," Wade said.

The number of covid-19 patients as of Wednesday wasn't large enough to require any adjustments to increase hospital capacity, she said.

"Though this strain of covid-19 is extremely contagious, we aren't seeing the large numbers of inpatients we were seeing earlier this year," Wade said.

"While we hope there is not another major surge, we are prepared for any increase in covid-19 patients and certainly have the experience. Baptist Health's goal is to be there for any patients in need."

She said the patients on Wednesday included 20 who were in intensive care and nine on ventilators.

"The severity of illness continues to be relatively mild compared to previous covid-19 surges," Wade said.

"The majority of those hospitalized have other contributing health conditions that make them more vulnerable."

Meanwhile, she said 100 of the health system's 11,000 employees were out for reasons related to covid-19.

"This is up 26 over this time last week, so we are continuing to see an upward trend," Wade said.


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