Five new virus cases in county
An Arkansas Department of Health spokesperson said Monday there had been 561 confirmed COVID-19 cases identified in Union County by the afternoon, representing an increase of five cases from Sunday.
Of those, 485 were considered recovered, he said, an increase of five from Sunday. Active cases correspondingly stayed steady at 56; they represented 9.98% of the total number of cases that had been identified locally by Monday.
No new local deaths attributable to COVID-19 were reported Monday.
Twenty Union County residents have died as a result of the virus.
No changes were reported in any of the nursing homes in Union County where COVID-19 has been identified, which include Advanced Health and Rehab of Union County, where three worker cases have been reported; Hudson Memorial Nursing Home, where one worker case has been reported; and Timberlane Health and Rehab, where eight resident cases and eight worker cases have been reported. At least one Timberlane resident has died as a result of the virus.
The ADH reported 102 new negative test results returned from Union County Monday, indicating a one-day local positivity rate of 4.67%. In all, 6,727 COVID-19 test results have returned from Union County, with 6,166 negatives, indicating an overall local positivity rate of 8.33%.
Arkansas saw its number of cases grow by 412 to reach 53,077 Monday. Of those, 46,133 were considered recovered Monday, leaving 6,341 cases — 11.94% of the cumulative total — active statewide. The number of active cases in the state dropped lower than it’s been in over a month Monday.
Four Arkansans’ deaths that resulted from COVID-19 were reported Monday, bringing the state’s death toll to 603, indicating a state COVID mortality rate of 1.14%. The number of Arkansans hospitalized due to the virus grew by eight Monday to reach 486, and the number of Arkansans on ventilator support stayed steady at 120.
Governor Asa Hutchinson said he learned from Dr. Deborah Birx, coordinator of the White House coronavirus task force, who visited Arkansas Monday, that antigen, or quick-result, testing supplies the state purchased had been acquired by the federal government, and the White House plans to prioritize nursing homes for antigen testing.
“That will make us adjust our timeline for putting out our antigen testing equipment as we planned, but we will continue to make those plans as we receive those supplies,” Hutchinson said.
In July, the state announced the purchase of 200 antigen testing machines, along with testing kits for 3,600 tests, according to the
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Hutchinson said the tests could be used to help identify COVID19 cases in schools, which start their 2020/2021 school year next Monday; so far, the state has received all of its machines, but only enough kits for 1,200 tests.
Hutchinson also addressed reports from the weekend that the United States Postal Service had notified 46 states, including Arkansas, that mailed-in ballots, including those submitted by absentee voters, as is allowed in Arkansas for those with fears regarding in-person voting due to COVID as well as usual circumstances that allow for absentee voting, may not reach their destination in time to be counted.
“I have reviewed that letter, which was addressed to our Secretary of State, and it clearly indicated that if everybody waits ‘til the end in Arkansas to send their absentee vote in, then it could be challenging if there’s a large number of those to get all of those counted in a timely fashion,” Hutchinson said. “That’s a good heads up. I think the response is we simply alert people that if you’re going to vote absentee, we encourage you to do that early rather than late, to make sure that the absentee vote gets in adequately in time so that it can be counted properly on Election Day.”
The ADH reported 4,093 test results returned between Sunday and Monday, indicating a one-day positivity rate for the state of 10.07% based on the number of new cases and results reported. So far in August, 94,809 COVID-19 test results have returned to the ADH.
Since the state began testing for COVID-19, 632,652 results have returned to the ADH, with 579,575 negatives, indicating an overall positivity rate for the state of 8.39%.
At 7 p.m. Monday, Johns Hopkins University reported 5,435,908 COVID-19 cases in the United States. Of those, 1,865,580 were considered recovered, leaving 3,399,875 cases — 62.54% — active nationwide. There had been 170,453 deaths attributable to the virus in the U.S. by Monday evening, indicating a national COVID mortality rate of 3.14%.
Johns Hopkins reported 21,808,197 COVID-19 cases worldwide Monday evening. Of those, 13,799,728 were considered recovered, leaving 7,236,017 cases — 33.18% — active around the world. There had been 772,452 deaths attributable to the virus by Monday evening, indicating a global COVID mortality rate of 3.54%.