Area’s virus count at 105
Union County saw the largest increase in confirmed COVID-19 cases of all Arkansas counties between Wednesday and Thursday, jumping from 84 to 105 by 5:30 p.m. Thursday. The state also saw its largest single-day increase since the first case was confirmed here on March 11.
“If you’re someone living in one of those counties (with new cases), be on the lookout. There is COVID-19 circulating in your community,” Arkansas Department of Health Secretary Dr. Nate Smith said Thursday. “This is a time to be careful. Maybe don’t have a big party at your house. Wear a mask. Practice good hand hygiene. And if you’re a provider in one of those counties, maybe increase your testing.”
No new cases have been reported at Courtyard Nursing and Rehab, which currently has reported 22 total cases split between 17 residents and five health care workers, nor had any other nursing homes in the county reported cases by Thursday afternoon. No new deaths had been reported in Union County by Thursday either.
Eleven negative tests results had been returned to the ADH by Thursday afternoon for a total of 461 negative tests. Reported recoveries increased to 63, up by one, leaving 38 cases active.
Union County had a positivity rate of 18.5% and a mortality rate of 3.8% Thursday afternoon.
Statewide, hospitalizations and confirmed cases grew for the second day in a row. Hospitalizations rose by five to 69, though those using ventilators decreased, Smith said during the state’s daily health update briefing.
So far, 4,366 cases of COVID19 have been confirmed in Arkansas, according to the ADH, representing an increase of 130 cases since Wednesday. Included in the new cases were 17 in prisons in the state, three of which — the Randall L. Williams Unit in Pine Bluff, the Cummins Unit in Lincoln County and a federal correctional institute in Forrest City — have reported outbreaks.
Deaths in the state rose by one to 98. Gov. Asa Hutchinson said one of the deaths in the state was Robert Todd Birmingham, who was an inmate at the Cummins Unit, who had been convicted of the so-called “Blue Light Rapes” of 1997, where he was accused of using flashing blue lights to trick women motorists into pulling over.
Over 3,300 Arkansans have recovered from COVID-19, according to the ADH, leaving active cases at 928. The state’s positivity rate was at 5.6% and the mortality rate sat at 2.2% Thursday evening. Union County’s cases represent 2.4% of all cases in the state.
TempleLive, a Fort Smith venue that had planned to hold a Travis McCready concert today in violation of state orders which state large venues may not reopen until May 18, has postponed the concert. The venue said it would submit an application to the state to reschedule the concert for Monday.
Department of Commerce Secretary Mike Preston said 30,000 Arkansans have applied for Pandemic Unemployment Insurance, provided for by the federal CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security) Act, which Arkansas rolled out last week.
Those who applied before May 6 should re-upload their required documents, according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, because a system error has made those documents inaccessible to officials. The applications are still active but cannot be processed until the documents are re-uploaded.
Arkansans have received over $350 million in unemployment benefits, $109 million of which was paid out of the state’s unemployment benefits trust fund, which still holds $778 million.
Arkansas’s cases represent .3% of the United States’s 1,413,012 million confirmed cases. In the U.S., 246,414 recoveries have been confirmed and 85,581 COVID-19 deaths have occurred. The U.S. has a mortality attributable to COVID-19 rate of 6%.
Globally, confirmed COVID-19 cases reached 4.25 million by Thursday evening, with 294,190 deaths reported. U.S. cases represent 33.1% of all COVID-19 cases. The global mortality rate was at 6.9% Thursday evening.