Arkansas virus-case rise tops 200 again

State trend noted since early May

As Arkansas lifts restrictions on more and more areas of daily life, a downward trend in coronavirus infections that began near the end of April has been trending back up since the second week of May.

On Saturday, Arkansas’ coronavirus cases rose by 236, to 7,014, marking the thirdstraight day of new cases in excess of 200. The state recorded 239 new cases Friday and 261 Thursday.

The number of deaths rose by one, to 133, according to data provided Saturday by the Arkansas Department of Health. Active cases rose by 15 from the previous day, to 1,714, and recoveries increased from 4,946 reported the

day before to 5,166 reported Saturday.

Of those active cases, according to the Health Department, 80 are in nursing homes, 55 are in correctional facilities, and 1,579 are in the community.

As of Saturday evening, the Health Department reported 104 covid-19 patients were hospitalized in the state, down nine from the previous day, with 15 of those hospital admissions having occurred since Friday. The number of patients on ventilators rose by two Saturday, to 26.

The hardest-hit age group continues to be those 25-44 years old, which accounted for 2,737 total cases Saturday, up 99 from the previous day. Next is the 45-64 age group, which Saturday accounted for 2,161 total cases, up 41 from Friday. Combined, those two age groups account for just under 70% of the cases reported in the state.

People 65 and over accounted for 965 cases Saturday, up 26 from the previous day, making up 13.8% of cases. However, that age group accounted for 73.7% of the deaths from covid-19, at 98 of the 133 Arkansans killed.

Northwest Arkansas had the largest number of active positive cases in the state, figures Saturday showed. Benton County led the state with 304 active positive cases, up from 288 the previous day. Neighboring Washington County had the second-highest number of active positive cases, 278, up from 249 reported by the Health Department on Friday.

Pulaski County ranks third-highest with 169 active positive cases reported Saturday, up from 153 Friday. Crittenden County in eastern Arkansas had the fourth-highest total of active positive cases, with 119, up from 102 the previous day.

Community spread continues to be a concern, said Dr. Jennifer Dillaha, state epidemiologist with the Health Department, especially as the state continues steps to reopen activities.

Precautions such as social distancing, hand-washing and wearing masks continue to be seen as the best ways to slow the spread of the virus that causes the covid-19 disease.

“I would say that people keeping a social distance from one another, keeping their hands sanitized, and using face coverings is becoming more important, not less, as we begin to open the state back up,” Dillaha said.

“A lot of people don’t realize how important that is, especially face masks. We get emails from people in the community who misunderstand the purpose of a mask. The benefit isn’t to keep you from getting the virus. It keeps you from infecting other people if you have the virus but aren’t showing symptoms,” she said.

Dillaha said as the state continues to reopen and more people get out in public, there will inevitably be more cases, and the recent uptick isn’t necessarily a sign of a second wave.

“We have had some discussions about that, and we do recognize that as we open up we’re likely to see more cases,” she said.

“The goal is to keep them as low as possible, of course, and hopefully we can keep people out of the hospital and not overburden our health care system, and so far that looks pretty good.

“But as a people,” Dillaha cautioned, “we need to do whatever we can do to limit the spread while we continue to open up the economy. So, as we open up, it’s even more important to keep our physical distance from one another, wear cloth face masks, and practice good hand sanitation. We can’t get lulled into a false sense of security because things are opening back up.”

The ability to track the progress of infections, Dillaha said, is increasingly improving. She cited the availability of tests, combined with the ability to process those tests in Arkansas.

At the beginning of the pandemic, she said, testing materials were not only in short supply, but had to be sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to be processed, which could take a week or more before the results were available.

“They were very strict about who could send a test,” she said. “Then, once the Health Department could do them, we could be less strict but we still had to focus on doing the test for people who would most likely be positive, which were people who were in the hospital.”

As testing supplies have become more widely available and private labs have expanded the testing capacity, individual clinics and hospitals have started contracting with commercial labs. She said that has led to shorter wait times for results — around 48-72 hours, depending on the lab.

“The whole system of testing supplies, being able to gather the specimens and run the tests, there’s more options, you can have quicker turnarounds, all of that is working much better now,” she said. “We still have a ways to go. We’re not where we want to be, but we’re much better than we were, even compared to just a few weeks ago.”

From Tuesday to Friday, the state received results from 12,619 covid-19 tests, Dillaha said. That shows the dramatic increase in testing capacity since the beginning of the pandemic, she said.

From the time the first case was confirmed March 11 in Jefferson County, the state had performed 8,341 tests through March 31, which increased to 42,380 tests performed in April, and 73,571 through Friday.

The department’s testing goal for May, Dillaha said, was 60,000 tests, which it surpassed on May 25.

As part of its push to continue expanding testing, the Health Department sponsored drive-thru screenings in four sites around the state over the weekend.

On Friday, testing was done at the Yell County Health Unit in Dardanelle from 3-7 p.m. On Saturday, testing was carried out 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in West Memphis at Lehr Arena; in Pine Bluff at Simmons Bank Field; and in De Queen at the Fire Department.

According to Danyelle McNeill, a spokesperson for the Health Department, a preliminary count on the number of people tested at the Dardanelle event was 373. McNeill said numbers for the other three events would not be available until Monday.

Next Saturday, Health Department-sponsored, testing events will be held 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Craighead County Health Unit in Jonesboro; at Wrightsville City Hall and at the Union County Fairgrounds in El Dorado, according to a department release.

The release said no out-ofpocket cost and no insurance is required to be tested, and testing is offered to anyone who wants a test regardless of whether the person has symptoms. Anyone who tests positive will be notified and provided guidance for isolating to avoid spreading the virus, the release said.