Arkansas' count of coronavirus cases rose Friday by 670, the first daily increase in nine days that was smaller than the one a week earlier, even as the state's active case total topped 6,000 for the first time since February.
After falling by one on Thursday, the number of covid-19 patients in the state's hospitals remained Friday at 145.
For the third time in the past week, the state didn't report an increase in covid-19 deaths. The death toll, as tracked by the Department of Health, remained at 11,512.
The increase in cases was larger by just seven than the one Thursday and smaller by 42 than the rise the previous Friday.
The increases on Thursday and Friday of this week were smaller than the ones the previous two days, when the state's case count rose by more than 800 each day.
Before this week, the last time the state had 800 or more new cases in a single day was March 19.
After rising the previous eight days, the average daily increase in the state's case count over a rolling seven-day period fell Friday to 567.
With new cases outpacing recoveries, however, the active case total rose by 305, to 6,188, the largest number since Feb. 26.
After falling by one on Thursday, the number of the state's virus patients who were on ventilators rose Friday by two, to six.
The number who were in intensive care, which fell by two on Thursday, rose Friday by 10, to 27, its highest level in more than three weeks.
It was the state's largest single-day increase in covid-19 patients in intensive care since Feb. 25.
At its hospitals in Little Rock and Springdale, Arkansas Children's had seven covid-19 patients on Friday, up from three on Thursday, spokeswoman Hilary DeMillo said.
The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Medical Center in Little Rock also had seven covid-19 patients Friday, which was down from nine on Wednesday, spokeswoman Leslie Taylor said.
The patients on Friday included two who were in intensive care.
Five of the seven patients had been vaccinated, Taylor said.
She said the number of UAMS employees who were off for reasons related to covid-19 had fallen from 138 as of Wednesday to 124 as of Friday.
Meanwhile, a Health Department spokeswoman said Arkansas was notified this week that it had been allocated an additional 35,800 vaccine doses for children as young as 6 months old, doubling the state's initial allocation.
The doses are evenly split between the Pfizer vaccine for children from six months to 4 years of age and the Moderna vaccine for children ages 6 months to 5 years.
Both vaccines are low-dose versions of the companies' shots that are available to adults.
The Health Department this week submitted an initial order for 15,000 doses of each vaccine that would be shipped to the department's local health units if federal regulators authorize the shots.
"Private providers will order these vaccines from their local health unit just as they do the other covid-19 vaccines," department spokeswoman Danyelle McNeill said in an email Friday.
"The vaccines will be redistributed by [local health units] to local covid-19 providers."
McNeill said the department plans to submit additional orders "in Wave 2 of preordering."
"We are coordinating rollout with [local health units] and private provider hubs," she said.
"Any remaining allocation carries over into the next wave of orders."
An advisory committee to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will meet Wednesday to discuss authorizing the shots for the new age groups.
If the FDA and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sign off next week, Arkansas could receive its first doses as soon as June 20, Arkansas Health Department Director Jennifer Dillaha has said.
Currently the Pfizer vaccine is available to ages 5 and up, and Moderna's is allowed for people 18 and older. No covid-19 vaccine has yet been authorized for children under 5.
Pulaski County had the most new cases, 130, on Friday, followed by Benton County with 55, Craighead County with 47, Washington County with 46 and Faulkner County with 38.
The state's cumulative count of cases since March 2020 rose to 849,144.
The Health Department's tally of vaccine doses that had been administered grew by 1,728, which was smaller by more than 300 than the daily increase a week earlier.
About 66% of the most recent increase was from people receiving booster doses for the first time.
The count of people starting the vaccination process rose by 311, which was down by more than 200 from the daily increase a week earlier.
According to the CDC, the percentage of Arkansans who had received at least one dose remained Friday at 67.2%, and the percentage who were fully vaccinated remained at 54.9%.
The percentage of those fully vaccinated who had received a booster dose remained at 40.4%.
Among the states and the District of Columbia, Arkansas continued to rank 37th in the percentage of its residents who had received at least one dose.
In the percentage who were fully vaccinated, it remained roughly tied with Tennessee for 46th, ahead of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Wyoming.
Nationally, 78% of people had received at least one dose, and 66.8% were fully vaccinated.
Of the fully vaccinated population nationally, 47% had received a booster dose.