State logs smallest case rise in weeks

The state’s increase in coronavirus cases Monday was 636, the smallest daily rise since Nov. 2, but Gov. Asa Hutchinson noted that testing totals also were on the low side.

On Nov. 2, the state saw 584 cases added to the overall tally. In the weeks that followed through the holiday season, daily increases in case counts often reached records, with a top number of 4,304 on Jan. 1.

Monday’s increase was lower than the new cases reported the same day a week earlier. On Jan. 18, the state added 1,109 new covid cases to the total count.

The state’s death toll from the virus rose Monday by 44 to 4,650, as tracked by the Arkansas Department of Health.

“While we saw a significant decline in new cases, our testing was also lower,” Hutchinson said Monday in

a statement. “An additional 44 deaths and a slight increase in hospitalizations remind us of the challenge we continue to face with this pandemic and what happens if we don’t follow health department guidelines.”

There were 6,486 polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, tests, and 357 antigen tests reported Monday — significantly lower than the previous Monday when 8,432 PCR and 323 antigen tests were recorded.

“Testing availability tends to go down on the weekend, and today’s numbers are in line with that,” the state epidemiologist, Dr. Jennifer Dillaha, said.

Dillaha added that case numbers continue to fall because Arkansans have made changes that reduce community spread and “being on the backside of the holiday surge” also helps the numbers come down.

“My big concern would be activities that could occur around spring break,” Dillaha said. “But we also still need to be mindful of religious holidays, especially with Easter coming up.”

Outbreaks in church congregations are continuing, Dillaha said.

“However, we know that it is possible for congregations to worship safely by following the Arkansas Department of Health guidelines,” she said. “Our experience shows that congregations who follow the guidelines are able to avoid transmission during in-person services.”

Health Department spokesman Gavin Lesnick said the department does not have numbers on transmission from within churches.

“We do ask cases about where they have been in the two weeks prior to infection,” Lesnick said. “This doesn’t necessarily mean a case was infected in one of these places, just that they went there during their infectious period.”

According to a Health Department report detailing the places active covid-19 cases visited in the 14 days prior to diagnoses, there were 437 — or 2% — that reported attending church.

The categories in the report are not mutually exclusive and do not add up to the total number of active cases because an infected person can go multiple places or nowhere at all.

VACCINE DISTRIBUTION

About 37,000 first doses of the two-shot covid-19 vaccine will be distributed this week to counties around the state given through community pharmacies as well as a few hospitals, Dillaha said.

The state also expects the delivery of about 25,000 second doses, she added.

“The distribution is going well given the small allocation of doses that Arkansas receives,” Dillaha said. “We have plenty of vaccinators out there and are ready to scale up our administration of doses as soon as our state allocation increases.”

As of Monday, a total 386,750 vaccine doses have been received since the first shipment arrived in the state on Dec. 14.

There have been 221,602 vaccines administered during that same time.

Part of those totals includes 49,400 doses allocated since Dec. 28 for CVS and Walgreens drug stores through the Long Term Care Federal Program. Of those, only about 14% — or 6,985 doses — have been administered.

The state is in the first part of Phase 1-B, which includes individuals 70 or above and school personnel.

“It will take us several weeks to vaccinate this group and when we have completed that goal, we will move on to vaccinating others in the remaining portion of 1-B,” Dillaha said.

Those in the second part of Phase 1-B include frontline workers in sectors such as manufacturing, food and agriculture, and essential government services.

“We hope we can move on to these other groups sometime in February. However, it may be longer if our allocation of vaccine doses does not increase,” Dillaha said.

Phase 1-A included health care workers, residents and staff of long-term care facilities as well as first responders such as emergency medical service personnel, firefighters and law enforcement officers; medical personnel in primary care, urgent care or student health clinics; dental clinics; home health, private care/ personal care; hospice care; dialysis centers; pharmacies; and corrections officers.

Phase 1-C is when some members of the general population will be vaccinated. It includes, among others, adults of any age with chronic health conditions; adults age 65 and older regardless of health status; and workers in transportation and logistics, water and wastewater, food service, shelter and housing, IT and communications, energy, media, public safety and public health workers.

It’s in Phase 2 when the general public can be vaccinated.

CHI St. Vincent Infirmary spokeswoman Bonnie Ward said the hospital system is still registering those in Phase 1-B who need shots.

“Those still interested in receiving the vaccine as part of Phase 1-B are encouraged to register and wait to be contacted,” Ward said. “They can register online at: chistvincent.com/getmyshot.”

At the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, more than 11,000 employees have been vaccinated, with more than 7,500 of those getting the first and second shots, according to UAMS spokeswoman Leslie Taylor.

“We have vaccinated more than 1,500 members of the public at our Freeway and mobile clinics and continue to do more,” Taylor said.

UAMS opened up a vaccination clinic a little over a week ago at the Freeway Medical Tower in Little Rock and also operates mobile clinics at various locations.

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals have a supply of vaccines and are operating under a different timeline than the Health Department’s.

The Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System is receiving limited numbers of the Moderna vaccine and are vaccinating veterans 75 and over, those on dialysis, undergoing chemotherapy, who have spinal cord injuries, who have had a transplant and who are homeless veterans, according to spokesman Chris Durney.

“We are continuing to provide vaccinations to our staff and vulnerable populations, including available second doses,” Durney said.

Enrolled veterans who meet the current priority group protocol — which is different than that of the state — will receive a call from the hospital’s vaccination team to schedule an appointment. At each first shot, the veteran will receive a vaccination card with a follow-up injection date and time.

“Given the pace of shipments of the vaccine, we encourage Veterans to either wait for a call from our Vaccination Team or register with their local pharmacy,” Durney said. “We understand that interest is far exceeding vaccine availability, which is why we continue to follow [U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] guidelines for vaccine administration. This ensures those at greatest risk and front line workers are provided the vaccine first.”

BY THE NUMBERS

The number of Arkansans who were hospitalized with the virus rose by four to 1,084 Monday.

The numbers of those hospitalized with covid-19 has continued to dip, after reaching a record high of 1,371 on Jan. 11.

There were 179 fewer virus patients hospitalized this Monday compared with a week ago on Jan. 18 when there were 1,263 hospitalized with the virus.

The number of people who have ever been hospitalized in the state with the virus rose by 45, to 13,312.

The number of virus patients in intensive care units as of late Monday fell by 11, to 334 — the eighth consecutive daily decline for that tally.

On Jan. 11, the state peaked at 458 covid patients in ICU.

There were 17 more ventilators in use, going from 170 to 187 on Monday. The state reached a record high on Jan. 11 of 268 on ventilators.

Those who have ever been on a ventilator in the state with the virus rose five, to 1,395.

Active covid-19 cases in the state dropped by 1,603, going from 19,395 on Sunday to 17,792 on Monday.

In addition, Monday’s number of active cases were 5,002 fewer than the previous Monday, when active cases totaled 22,794.

The record for active cases was 27,822 on Jan. 9.

Among prison and jail inmates, the Health Department’s count of cases rose by one.

The state’s cumulative count of cases since the pandemic officially began in March rose Monday to 284,702.

Over the past seven days, 11,803 new cases were reported, a reduction of 4,116 cases from the previous seven-day period — from Jan. 12 to Jan. 18 — that saw 15,919 new cases.

In the past seven days, 307 Arkansans were reported as having lost their lives to the virus — 45 more than the previous week. Some of those deaths occur in previous weeks.

There were 65,027 PCR tests performed in the past seven days — 5,507 less than the 70,534 reported from Jan. 12 to Jan. 18.

There were 19,191 antigen tests administered in the past seven days — 286 less than reported for the previous week.

COUNTY DATA

Pulaski County had the largest number of new cases, 138, followed by Washington County, which had 69; Benton County, which had 66; Craighead County, which had 33; and Jefferson County, which had 29.

The numbers reported per county have significantly reduced from those reported a week ago Monday.

Pulaski County’s cases dipped by 17 from 155 a week ago, while Washington County fell by 56 from 125 and Benton County fell by 51 from 117.

The county with the highest number of active cases was Pulaski County with 2,726 followed by Benton with 1,519, Washington County with 1,504, Sebastian County with 900 and Faulkner County with 821.

HOSPITAL BEDS

There were 39 more available hospital beds on Monday, going from 2,117 on Sunday to 2,156 on Monday, according to Health Department data.

The total beds — whether filled or vacant — increased by 16 to 8,808. The total includes more than 300 in psychiatric or rehabilitation facilities that aren’t for covid-19 care.

That means that about 75.5% of the state’s hospital beds are full.

Available ICU beds jumped by 19, going from 66 on Sunday to 84 on Monday. Out of 1,176 critical-care beds, about 7% were available Monday afternoon.

Taylor said UAMS was caring for 48 covid-19 patients as of late Monday, with 11 of those in the ICU.

“We are full with a packed ER. Our biggest challenge continues to be staffing,” Taylor said.

Ward said the CHI St. Vincent Infirmary system is “still operating at a high level of hospital capacity.”

The Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System “is well below capacity as of today,” Durney said Monday.

At the John L. McClellan Memorial Veterans Hospital in Little Rock, five of the 10 beds that were made available to help Arkansas handle its load of covid-19 patients were occupied with non-veterans Monday, Durney said.

The state inventory of ventilators remained the same at 1,118. About 65%, or 726, ventilators remain available for use, three less than Sunday.

Total bed capacity — hospital beds that can be staffed whether or not they are occupied — was at 8,808 beds as of Monday.

Maximum flex bed capacity — the number of hospital beds regardless of ability to staff them — was at 11,430.