Day’s deaths, infections see decrease over week

Gov. Asa Hutchinson praised lowering covid-19 numbers Sunday via Twitter but said the vaccine was the “best tool” for making sure the trend continues.

The Arkansas Department of Health reported 739 cases and 11 deaths Sunday. This is about 400 cases and 24 deaths lower than last Sunday. The state has seen 485,056 cases and 7,445 deaths since the pandemic started.

About 88% of cases and 87% of deaths since Feb. 1

were unvaccinated in the state.

Active cases dropped 500, to 15,774, in a 24-hour period. The data shows 84% of the active cases are unvaccinated.

Those hospitalized in the state and on ventilators remained about the same as last week, with 1,115 hospitalized and 289 on ventilators, according to the data. About 90% of hospitalized covid-19 patients since Feb. 1 were unvaccinated.

Benton County led the state with 61 new cases in a 24-hour period. Pulaski County followed with 49 new cases and Craighead had the third-highest with 49.

Little Rock School District saw covid-19 cases reduce by half since last week. In a 48-hour period ending at 3 p.m. Sunday, they had 12 individuals in quarantine and five positive cases. Four of the cases are students.

Vaccination doses raised by 3,667 Sunday, with 2,840,839 or 77% of the state having received at least one dose. About 2,272 individuals were fully vaccinated as of Sunday. About 51%, or 1,303,772, of the state’s population 12 years or older were fully immunized Sunday. A third dose had been given to 17,878 individuals.

“The vaccine is our best tool, and we need everyone to get full vaccinated while we face this challenges of COVID-19,” Hutchinson said in his tweet.