State’s hospital, ventilator, ICU tallies fall

The number of covid-19 patients in Arkansas hospitals, on ventilators and in intensive care all fell Thursday, with the number hospitalized dropping to its lowest level in more than two weeks.

The state’s count of cases rose by 2,318, an increase that was smaller by more than 1,200 than the one a week earlier.

The state’s death toll from the virus, as tracked by the Department of Health, rose by 32, to 6,806.

“The number of total [new] cases is still pretty high, in that high plateau that we seem to be at,” said Jennifer Dillaha, the Health Department’s chief medical officer.

After rising by just one Wednesday, the number of hospitalized coronavirus patients fell by 43 Thursday to 1,325, its lowest level since Aug. 8.

The number Thursday was down by 134 from its all-time high on Aug. 16 and smaller by 46 than its peak in January during the state’s winter surge.

“It is a little bit of a hopeful sign, but the context of the activities in the state makes me a little wary about whether or not I could feel confident about whether it would be sustained,” Dillaha said.

In particular, she said she’s “still very concerned about a growing number of cases in K through 12 and universities, and we still have to make it through Labor Day weekend.”

The number of covid-19 patients who were on ventilators fell from an all-time high of 354 Wednesday to 352.

After rising to a record 558 Monday, the number of virus patients who were in intensive care fell for the third day in a row, going from 534 Wednesday to 528.

But the number of covid-19 patients who were on ventilators and in intensive care remained well above their January peaks, which were 268 for the number on ventilators and 458 for the number in intensive care.

The number of intensive care unit beds that were unoccupied statewide rose by three, to 30, with covid-19 patients continuing to make up about 49% of all the state’s patients in intensive care.

The average daily increase in the state’s case count over a rolling seven-day period fell to 2,066, its lowest level since the week ending Aug. 3 and down from a nearly seven-month high of 2,351 the week ending Aug. 7.

With recoveries and deaths outpacing new cases, the number of cases in the state that were considered active fell by 12, to 23,575.

Dillaha said 14.2% of the state’s coronavirus tests were positive during the seven-day span ending Wednesday, down

slightly from the 14.8% that was initially reported for the week ending Tuesday.

Of the deaths reported Thursday, she said six happened in mid-July and the rest occurred within the past month.

PROPOSAL ENDORSED

In response to the high number of patients in intensive care, an advisory panel Thursday endorsed a proposal to spend $18.1 million in coronavirus relief funds to open 54 more ICU beds at hospitals in Little Rock, Hot Springs, Pine Bluff and Jonesboro.

Those are in addition to 157 beds, including 33 ICU beds, for covid-19 patients that were opened at Baptist Health hospitals in Little Rock, Van Buren and Fort Smith over the past two weeks with the help of $37.7 million from Arkansas’ allocation of funding from the American Rescue Plan Act.

“To paraphrase the ‘Field of Dreams,’ if you create them, they will be filled,” Health Secretary Jose Romero told the American Rescue Plan Act Steering Committee on Wednesday, when he first presented the latest proposals.

“They have filled these beds rapidly.”

In addition to those beds, Baptist Health has said it will open an additional 18 ICU beds, including 15 for covid-19 patients, at its hospitals in North Little Rock and Fort Smith.

Baptist Health spokeswoman Cara Wade said the first two of those beds were opened Thursday at Baptist Health-Fort Smith.

“Staffing is critical to being able to open these beds in a timely fashion, and we anticipate opening 10 more of these beds on Monday” at Baptist Health Medical Center-North Little Rock, she said.

At its 11 hospitals across the state, she said Baptist Health had 285 covid-19 patients, down from an all-time high of 300 Sunday.

The patients on Thursday included 139 who were in intensive care and a record 97 who were on ventilators, Wade said.

She said 87% of the patients had not been fully vaccinated.

The state also has allocated $10.4 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds for 43 beds, including nine ICU beds, for covid-19 patients at Unity Health-White County Medical Center in Searcy.

A Unity Health spokeswoman said earlier this week that the hospital was still working to hire staffing for the beds.

It planned to open at least five of them on Sept. 7.

Meanwhile, Arkansas this week canceled a request that it had submitted last week through the Emergency Management Assistance Compact for medical personnel from other states that would allow additional beds to be opened at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Medical Center.

Among other personnel, Arkansas had requested 91 nurses that it said would allow the hospital to open 20 ICU beds and 56 “progressive and floor beds.”

Health Department spokeswoman Danyelle McNeill said the request was withdrawn after no states responded to it.

At its hospitals in Little Rock and Springdale, Arkansas Children’s had 26 covid-19 patients Thursday, down from an all-time high of 31 on Aug. 13, spokeswoman Nicole Huddleston said.

The patients Thursday included six who were on ventilators and eight who were in intensive care.

None of the patients had been fully vaccinated, even though 12 of them were 12 or older, making them eligible for the Pfizer vaccine.

CLASSES SHIFT

Also Thursday, the state Department of Education’s Division of Elementary and Secondary Education said it had received its first reports this school year of shifts to virtual instruction that were made in response to covid-19 cases or quarantine.

In Hot Springs, at least one prekindergarten class and a first-grade class at Langston Elementary Leadership Academy have shifted to home instruction through early next week.

Similarly, a second- and a third-grade class have shifted away from campus until next week at the Hot Springs School District’s Main Street Visual and Performing Arts Magnet School. And at least one second-grade class at Oaklawn STEM Magnet has pivoted to home instruction through Wednesday.

The district requires students, employees and visitors to wear masks while indoors and is offering gift cards to students who can show they are vaccinated by Oct 31.

However, students under 12 are ineligible for the vaccinations.

In Rogers, Eastside Elementary School reported that it has shifted some students in each of third, fourth and fifth grades to their homes until Sept. 7.

The Elementary and Secondary Education Division is classifying school responses to covid-19 cases as “limited,” “moderate” and “critical,” with limited responses being made when a class or grade of students is affected by a covid-19 outbreak.

A moderate response is one in which a school is affected, and a critical response will occur when instruction districtwide is affected by positive covid cases and quarantines.

Schools or districts called to respond to covid-19 outbreaks and quarantines will likely have to use their 10 alternative-methods-of-instruction days, or close and make up the missed days later in the school year.

On alternative methods-of-instruction days, students and their teachers do schoolwork from their homes.

Districts don’t necessarily have to report their limited responses to the division but do have to confer with the agency on their moderate and critical responses, spokeswoman Kimberly Mundell said.

GAME CANCELED

Covid-19 concerns also prompted the Texarkana, Ark., School District to announce that its Sept. 3 high school football game with Texarkana, Texas, High School has been canceled.

With covid-19 being at a critical stage, there is concern that a well-attended game with many local residents will add strain to an already overwhelmed health care system, according to a statement from the Arkansas school system.

Other high school football games are set to be the site of vaccination clinics organized by the state Education and Health departments and the Arkansas Activities Association.

The first such clinics will be held tonight in Lake Hamilton, Pine Bluff, Fordyce and Searcy, Mundell said.

In its daily coronavirus report, the Little Rock School District reported that two employees and 17 students had tested positive for the virus in the 24-hour period ending at 3 p.m. Thursday.

An additional two employees and 30 students were required to quarantine after being near an infected person.

The cases and quarantines affected 19 schools and a district administrative site.

The Jacksonville/North Pulaski School District reported that a staff member at Bayou Meto Elementary School tested positive for covid-19, resulting in 20 students being sent home to quarantine.

The Parkers Chapel School Board voted Wednesday to institute a temporary mask mandate on school premises.

District Superintendent John Gross said as of Thursday afternoon, 48 high school students and 40 elementary students were in quarantine because of covid-19 exposures.

“We’re having to send so many kids home because of contact tracing, and if they wear a mask — if both students are wearing masks, they don’t have to be sent home,” he said.

Last week, Gross said, there were 48 students total in quarantine. The rapid rise in student exposure is what prompted the School Board to hold the special meeting Wednesday.

Across the state, the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement said Thursday that 201 school districts had 50 or more new cases per 10,000 residents within their boundaries over a two-week period, tying the record set in January for the number of districts with that many cases.

The districts as of this week included 42 that had 100 or more cases per 10,000 residents.

DASHBOARD ADDITIONS

According to a new section added to the Health Department’s online coronavirus dashboard Thursday, 6,016, or about 26%, of the state’s active cases as of Thursday were among people 18 or younger.

Since the state’s first case was diagnosed in March 2020, a total of 726 people in that age group have been hospitalized, including 99 who were admitted to intensive care, according to the site.

The site indicated that 42.9% of people ages 12-18 have had at least one vaccine dose, and 27.2% have been fully vaccinated.

Of the people in that age group who have tested positive since Feb. 1, 97.8% had not been fully vaccinated.

By comparison, 89.2% of known infections of people of all ages since then have been among people who were not fully vaccinated.

The Health Department has previously reported that three Arkansas children have died from covid-19.

The Health Department also added information to the dashboard on people who have received third doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines as authorized earlier this month for certain people with compromised immune systems.

The site indicated that 8,591 Arkansans had received third doses as of Thursday.

STATE CENTERS

The state’s five human development centers, which house more than 800 people with developmental and other disabilities, had 17 active cases, and 61 residents and staff members in quarantine, according to a Department of Human Services report released Thursday.

“We continue to monitor this situation closely and are hopeful that with the approval of Pfizer vaccine, more of our staff will want to get vaccinated,” department spokesman Amy Webb said.

The Conway Human Development Center, the largest of the five with 518 beds, has the highest infection rate with 11 cases — one resident and 10 employees. The facility has 53 people under quarantine — 50 residents and three employees.

The Southeast Arkansas Human Development Center in Warren, with 100 licensed beds, has three staff member cases. A resident and two employees are under quarantine

The Jonesboro facility, with 109 licensed beds, has three cases, all staff members. An employee is under quarantine.

The Booneville Human Development Center, which is licensed for 138 residents, has no active cases, but one resident and three employees are under quarantine.

The Arkadelphia facility, with 125 licensed beds, does not have any active cases or any residents or employees under quarantine.

STATE RANKINGS

According to rankings Thursday from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Arkansas had the country’s eighth-highest number of new cases per capita over a rolling seven-day period, after Mississippi, Louisiana, Florida, Kentucky, South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama.

Arkansas’ new deaths per capita continued to be the country’s second-highest after Louisiana.

Within Arkansas, Washington County had the most new cases, 216, followed by Pulaski County with 186, and Benton County with 142.

The state’s cumulative count of cases rose to 443,564.

The number of people who have ever been hospitalized in the state with confirmed infections rose by 98, to 20,976.

The number who have ever been on ventilator with covid-19 rose by 12, to 2,151.

DOSES REPORTED

The number of vaccine doses that providers reported having administered, including second and third doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, rose by 31,544, the third-largest one-day increase since at least January.

However, Dillaha said the increase included some “data cleanup” and delayed reporting of doses that were given earlier.