STATE CASES grow by 1,824.

Pulaski County tops the list with 279

Arkansas recorded 1,824 new coronavirus cases Saturday, up from an increase of 1,707 cases the state Department of Health reported Friday.

Saturday’s uptick raises the state’s cumulative case total to 294,387, the Health Department reported. Deaths from covid-19 rose by seven, taking the toll to 4,838 people.

Active cases Saturday rose by 282 to 17,608.

“There are 1,824 new covid-19 cases in Arkansas,” Gov. Asa Hutchinson said in a tweet Saturday afternoon. “This is higher than we want, but it is good news to have fewer hospitalizations and a significantly reduced number of new deaths. In January we tested over 400,000 Arkansans. That is equivalent to over 10% of our population.”

“We continue to distribute vaccine doses across the state with over 15,000 doses administered yesterday,” the governor said in a second tweet Saturday. “While we receive additional doses, it’s important we all wear a mask, watch our distance, and wash our hands.”

Hospitalizations on Saturday were at 911, a decrease of 40 from Friday. Patients on ventilators increased by two to 146, the Health Department reported.

Pulaski County ranked first in new cases with 279, followed by Benton County with 122; Washington County with 95; Faulkner County with 80; and Sebastian County with 76 cases.

The Health Department identified 1,343 cases as community spread and six new confirmed cases in correctional facilities.

Health care providers administered an additional 13,690 doses of covid-19 vaccines, according to Saturday’s report, taking the total doses administered since Dec. 14, when the state began inoculations, to 284,022.

That figure represents 60.4% of the more than 470,000 doses of the Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines that Arkansas has received.