Virus deaths hit 1-day high in Arkansas
Toll rises by 42; hospitals see increase of 31 patients
Covid-19 deaths and hospitalizations in the state set daily records Monday as total deaths from the virus rose by 42, to 2,225, and those currently hospitalized rose by 31, to 861, according to Arkansas Health Department data.
Another 1,308 cases were added Monday, bringing the cumulative total to 134,348.
“The new cases are higher than last Monday, and this may be an indication we are in for a tough week ahead,” Gov. Asa Hutchinson said in a news release. “The 42 new deaths is regrettably an all-time high in a single day.
While there is good news on the vaccine front this morning, we have to work together to reduce cases, hospitalizations and save lives.”
The previous Monday, there were 945 new cases.
The “good news” Hutchinson referred to was the announcement Monday by vaccine developer Moderna that its coronavirus vaccine is nearly 95% effective against the virus. Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer announced last week that its coronavirus vaccine was more than 90% effective.
State Epidemiologist Jennifer Dillaha praised Hutchinson’s decision announced Friday to establish a 20-member winter covid-19 task force, composed of Health Department officials, hospital administrators and others to make recommendations to slow the virus and help hospitals manage the surge of patients.
The task force will generate some good ideas and will implement some “good things that will greatly help the situation,” Dillaha said.
“But the task force is not going to be able to solve the problem of the high number of cases. Only the people of Arkansas can solve that problem,” she said. “And the way that it can be solved is by the things we know work: masks, social distancing and staying away from crowds or groups of other people who are not from your household.”
The Thanksgiving holiday, Dillaha said, is a “very big concern” for Health Department officials.
“Many people, in spite of the pandemic, are making plans to travel, to spend time with friends and relatives who are not in their household,” she said. “That will provide really good opportunities for the virus to spread.”
The record number of daily deaths does not surprise her, Dillaha said.
“With the high number of cases we’ve been having day after day, it’s unavoidable. This illness, while it’s mild or asymptomatic for so many people, can kill a lot of people as well,” she said. “It’s hard because it’s a culture change. Culture change is hard, but we’re really going to have to think about what is most important in this situation. Is seeing someone more important than protecting them from the virus?”
BY THE NUMBERS
Results from 10,329 polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, tests were reported Monday, along with 620 rapid antigen tests. PCR tests are more accurate, but antigen tests give faster results.
Of the total new cases, 15 were attributed to correctional facilities.
The county with the most new covid-19 confirmed and probable cases was Washington County with 161, followed by Pulaski County with 130, Benton County with 70, Sebastian County with 64 and Craighead County with 63.
There are 16,485 active covid-19 cases in the state, a drop of 46 from the day before.
The counties with the highest numbers of new cases are also among the ones with the highest numbers of active cases, with 1,334 in Washington County, 1,674 in Pulaski County, 1,343 in Benton County, 836 in Sebastian County and 796 in Craighead County.
Some of the smaller counties, however, are also seeing a high numbers of active cases. Greene County has 409 active cases while Lonoke County has 325, White County has 546, and Saline County has 616.
According to a Health Department report Thursday, the highest percentage of active cases — 11%, or 1,705 — was traced to people who have visited retail stores in the 14 days prior to diagnosis. About 4% of active cases were traced to restaurant visits, 4% to church attendance and 3% to medical provider appointments. Visits to bars, barbershops, day cares, hotels and gyms each accounted for less than 1% of the active cases.
The categories are not mutually exclusive and do not add up to the total number of cases because those with active covid-19 can go to multiple places.
HOSPITALIZED PATIENTS
Since the pandemic began, there have been 7,949 covid-19 patients hospitalized, with 902 requiring ventilator use.
The current record hospitalization of 861 continues to strain hospitals in the state, Dillaha said.
“It’s concerning not only for people who have covid, but for people who also have other acute health problems that they need to be hospitalized for,” she said. “If there is not enough room in the hospital for all these people, then it’s very worrisome.”
Of the state’s 9,144 total hospital beds, 2,392 remained available as of Monday, according to Health Department spokeswoman Danyelle McNeill.
There are 340 covid-19 patients in intensive care units across the state. Of the 1,103 ICU beds in the state, only 87 remain available.
Monday saw seven more covid-19 patients placed on ventilators, for a total of 123 requiring the treatment.
The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences recently expanded its ICU capacity from 52 to 64 beds, spokeswoman Katrina Dupins said Monday.
“We’re at ICU max, but that status allows room for additional patients,” Dupins said. “We’re doing the best we can to take care of the patients we have and the patients we receive. And we’re working with other health care providers as necessary. There are 34 COVID-19 patients at UAMS; 16 are in the ICU.”
Mitchell Nail, spokesman for St. Bernards Healthcare in Jonesboro, said the number of hospitalized covid-19 patients there still “trends at an alarmingly high pace.” The hospital will soon care for its 1,000th covid-19 patient since the beginning of the pandemic in March.
“And our need for both covid ICU beds and regular ICU beds has never been greater. We plan to expand both,” Nail said. “Staffing challenges still persist as team members live in a high-community-spread environment. Exposure quarantines occur often, and we have learned how to survive with small — but mighty — teams at times.”
Nail said St. Bernards has the ability to “scale up” in terms of space. The medical center is licensed for 440 beds but still has more than a quarter of that capacity available, he added.
“In addition, we have not moved covid patients into our new ICU and surgical tower, which opened last year,” Nail said. “Its extra space and capabilities have proven time and again invaluable to our efforts.”
NORTHWEST ARKANSAS
Martine Pollard, spokeswoman for Mercy Hospital Northwest in Rogers, said in an email that the medical center is remaining steady, “but [officials] are monitoring with concern knowing and experiencing the spread” of covid-19 and the increased hospitalizations.
“The spike in positive cases over the last few days has increased hospitalizations, and we are seriously concerned,” Pollard said. “As collaborative health care providers, we do not want to get into a situation that will overburden our staffs and hospitals.”
There are 79 patients in the covid-19 units. Including covid-19 and patients with other medical needs, there are 109 ICU beds and 38 ventilators in use, according to data Pollard provided.
Dillaha said covid-19 quarantine policies for hospitals need to be uniform across the whole state and suggested that hospitals follow in the state’s longterm care facilities’ footsteps.
In the state’s nursing homes, being exposed to the virus does not necessarily send a health worker home, she said. If the employee has no symptoms and continues to tests negative, then the person can continue to work with full personal protective equipment and symptom monitoring.
“We do it for our football teams; we could do it for our health care workers,” Dillaha said.
K-12 SCHOOLS
The number of cases at public schools around the state surpassed the 2,000 mark for the first time this fall, according to data released by the Health Department on Monday.
The cumulative case number in districts now totals 2,215, up from the 1,864 cases the Health Department reported last Thursday in its biweekly educational update, released on Mondays and Thursdays.
There are 124 districts with five or more active cases, another increase from the 106 schools with five or more cases the Health Department reported at the end of last week. Districts with fewer than five cases are not individually identified; however, their cases are still included in the cumulative total.
The Springdale district remains at the top of the list with 138 positives, followed by the Fort Smith School District with 76 and the Rogers district with 70.
The Little Rock School District reported seven new cases Monday afternoon and 77 new quarantines in its daily covid-19 report. The district announced third graders at Wakefield Elementary have transitioned to remote learning through Friday.
Due to an increase of students and staff members who have been identified as probable close contacts, the Pulaski County Special School District announced that Chenal Elementary School is shifting to remote learning through Thanksgiving break. Students will return to class Nov. 30, the district said.
“Although the number of actual positive cases for covid-19 are low, we want to ensure that all students and staff remain healthy and safe,” the Pulaski County district said in an announcement.
The Jacksonville/North Pulaski School District announced that a staff member at Warren Dupree Elementary School tested positive, resulting in 30 students and three faculty members being quarantined for two weeks. The district did not say whether the case resulted in any changes in on-site teaching.
After a Smackover-Norphlet cafeteria worker tested positive, resulting in the quarantine of other food service personnel, the district said it decided to “cancel face-to-face instruction” for the rest of this week through Thanksgiving break.
The Marmaduke School District announced its junior high and high school are transitioning to remote learning today until the Monday after Thanksgiving.
“The difficult decision of transitioning to virtual learning was made due to the increased number of positive cases and increased number of quarantined students and staff,” the district posted in an announcement on its website, adding that the elementary and preschool will remain open.
The Cabot School District will give students in kindergarten through 12th grade the option to work from home Wednesday through the rest of the week after more than 60 staff members could not report to work “due to covid-related issues,” the district said on its website.
The district is also short 10 bus drivers for the remainder of this week, with three undergoing virus testing, the school system said.
“Due to these reasons, and the fact that we expect the district to be faced with more challenges, we have made the following schedule change as the week progresses,” the district said. “We understand these are difficult times.”
Lincoln High School in the Lincoln Consolidated School District will begin remote learning today through the Thanksgiving break, Superintendent Mary Ann Spears said.
The high school has at least 10 faculty members who are absent because of probable close contacts.
“It is mainly impacting staff,” Spears said Monday afternoon. “We have a lot of quarantines.”
The Beebe School District is shifting to remote learning for the rest of the week because of “an uptick in positive cases and quarantines,” Chris Nail, superintendent, said in a video posted on Facebook. Students will return after Thanksgiving break.
“I know this places a burden on our community,” Nail said. “We are living in very unusual times right now.”
Blytheville High School is pivoting to remote learning today until the Monday after Thanksgiving because of staffing shortages related to covid-19, Superintendent Bobby Ashley said.
The high school has 11 teachers who are quarantined. Three administrators are also unable to work on campus due to probable close contacts, and the school nurse has tested positive, Ashley said.
HIGHER EDUCATION
Cases on college campuses have increased by 100 since the last Health Department report on Thursday on positivity rates at educational institutions.
Colleges and universities have 741 cumulative cases, according to Monday’s data, an increase from the 641 the Health Department reported at the end of last week.
Twenty-seven campuses have five or more cases, up from 22 in Thursday’s report.
The University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, is ranked first with 143 positives. Harding University in Searcy is second with 80. Arkansas State University in Jonesboro ranks third with 68, according to the Health Department.
UA-Fayetteville reported 94 active cases on campus in data updated Sunday on its website.
ASU in Jonesboro logged 70 cases, a decrease from 125 on Friday.
University-reported cases are sometimes different than those documented by the Health Department due to different documentation metrics.
The University of Arkansas at Little Rock documented 25 active cases as of Monday morning, a slight increase from the 22 cases reported last week.
The University of Arkansas at Fort Smith had logged 37 active cases as of last Friday.