STATE RATE of positive tests increases.
Increase in new covid-19 cases often follows, official notes
The average positivity rate for covid-19 tests in Arkansas increased 1.2 percentage points in the past week, state epidemiologist Jennifer Dillaha said.
This could foreshadow an impending spike in cases, she said, especially since more contagious and deadly variants of the coronavirus have been detected in the state.
The Arkansas Department of Health records a seven-day rolling average of positive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and antigen tests for covid-19. Dillaha said the average was 3.8% on May 1 and 5% on Saturday.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson included a warning along with his regular encouraging message in Saturday’s Twitter statement about the Health Department’s daily covid data report. The state saw 245 new cases Saturday.
“Today is a reminder that the COVID-19 positivity rate has crept up over the last couple of weeks,” Hutchinson tweeted. “While our new cases remain steady and hospitalizations have declined, the virus remains a threat. Keep up the good work, and get vaccinated as soon as you can.”
A higher positivity rate is an “early indicator” of an increase in cases, Dillaha said, and it could mean that not enough people are being tested or have access to tests.
“People may not realize that they are contributing to the spread by not getting tested when they have symptoms and therefore not isolating, or they may contribute to it by not protecting themselves from infection by getting vaccinated,” Dillaha said.
Vaccination rates have declined in Arkansas over the past several weeks. On Saturday, 13,751 doses of vaccine were administered, according to Health Department data. That was 5,785 fewer doses than on May 1.
“If people are reluctant to get tested in the same way they’re reluctant to get vaccinated, that’s a concern because they could potentially play a role in spreading covid-19 in their communities, and that would be a worrisome situation to us since we now have the U.K. variant circulating,” Dillaha said, referring to a variant first discovered in the United Kingdom.
Variants first found in California and Brazil have also been found in Arkansas, she said. Some of them are considered more easily transmitted that the initial coronavirus strain.
The Health Department received 3,720 covid-19 test results Saturday for a total of 29,226 results this month. The department received 156,630 test results in April, according to its previous data reports.
Arkansas has seen 337,415 cases of covid-19 since March 2020. Benton County had the most new cases Saturday with 36. Pulaski County had 30 new cases, and Washington County had 22, according to Health Department data.
There were 163 Arkansans hospitalized with covid-19 Saturday, 12 fewer than Friday, and 38 of those patients were on ventilators Saturday, one more than Friday.
The state on Saturday reported one death from covid-19, bringing the death toll from the disease to 5,760.
“People may not realize that they are contributing to the spread by not getting tested when they have symptoms and therefore not isolating, or they may contribute to it by not protecting themselves from infection by getting vaccinated,” state epidemiologist Jennifer Dillaha said.