Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Day’s 55 deaths mark new high in state’s count
Data chilling, but vaccine offers hope, governor says
Arkansas added a record 55 deaths to its official toll from the coronavirus on Friday, while its count of cases rose by 2,770 — the third- highest one- day increase since the start of the pandemic.
The number of people hospitalized in the state with covid-19 rose by 54, to 1,059.
Those patients included 185 on ventilators, up from 181 a day earlier.
The number of active cases topped 20,000 for the first time as new cases continued to outpace recoveries.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson called the record increase in deaths a “grave milestone.”
“While we may have hope ahead from promising vaccine news, we cannot grow weary over the next few weeks,” Hutchinson said in a statement.
“This virus spreads easily and can infect any of us. Please take proper precautions.”
The cumulative count of cases topped 181,000 — representing just over 6% of the state population.
Previously, the biggest rise in state virus deaths was the 53 that were reported Monday.
State Epidemiologist Jennifer Dillaha said all but eight of the deaths reported
Friday happened within the past month.
The increase in cases Friday fell short of the record 2,827 that were added the previous Friday, Dec. 4.
The state’s second-highest increase was a day earlier, on Dec. 3, when the count rose by 2,789.
After peaking at a record 2,162 cases on Wednesday, the average number of cases added each day over a rolling seven-day period fell Friday for the second day in a row.
The average daily increase fell to 2,078 as of Thursday and 2,070 as of Friday.
Dillaha said the state’s virus numbers on Friday were “concerning” but called the drop in the average daily growth in cases a “hopeful sign.”
“We hope that it will keep doing that through the holidays,” she said.
The tentative downward trend happened even as the state Department of Health reported that 15,516 polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, tests, were performed Thursday.
That set a record for the number of such tests in one day as reported in the department’s coronavirus updates.
The combined total of 19,053 PCR and antigen tests conducted Thursday also set a record for the daily reports.
VACCINE PLANS
Dillaha also said Friday that two Little Rock hospitals — UAMS Medical Center and Baptist Health Medical Center — will each receive two trays, each with 975 doses, of the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech that will be shipped directly from the manufacturer when the state receives its initial allotment.
Sixteen other hospitals, each with 1,000 or more employees, will receive shipments containing one tray.
Much of the rest of the allotment, expected to be about 25,000 doses, will go to five pharmacies that will distribute them to about 50 smaller hospitals as well as to Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock.
The amount going to each of those hospitals will depend on their size and how many covid-19 patients they have, Dillaha said.
Since the initial allotment won’t be enough to cover all the employees, the hospitals will have to decide which employees will get the shot first, Dillaha has said.
Health Department spokesman Gavin Lesnick said the 18 hospitals receiving direct shipments have a combined total of 54,184 employees.
He said he didn’t have information Friday evening on the number of employees at the smaller hospitals.
Dillaha has said some of the allotment will go to the Health Department for employees who test patients for the virus at its health units around the state.
According to news reports, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted an emergency use authorization for the vaccine on Friday.
Dillaha said she was told the virus could be shipped “within 24 hours of the [authorization] being issued, so we could receive it then the following day perhaps.”
Hutchinson tweeted Friday night: “I just received a letter from FDA confirming the 1st emergency use authorization for a Coronavirus vaccine. I will join a briefing with the FDA tomorrow on its use. This is exciting news for our nation.”
ACTIVE CASES RISE
The cases added to the state’s tallies included 1,938 confirmed through PCR tests.
The other 832 were “probable” cases, which include those identified through less-sensitive antigen tests.
The state’s cumulative count of cases rose to 181,624.
That comprised 156,011 confirmed cases and 25,613 probable ones.
The number of cases considered active rose by 983, to 20,706, as 1,732 Arkansans were newly classified as having recovered.
The death toll from the virus, as tracked by the Health Department, rose to 2,875.
The count of deaths rose by 29, to 2,588, among confirmed cases and by 26, to 287, among probable cases.
Among nursing-home and assisted-living facility residents, the death toll rose by 29, to 1,233.
The count of virus deaths on the Health Department’s online dashboard of coronavirus information rose by at least one in 34 of the state’s 75 counties.
It rose by seven in Benton County; six in Pulaski County; four in Saline County; and two each in Baxter, Conway, Franklin, Garland, Greene, Independence and Sebastian counties.
The other 24 counties had an increase of one death each.
The death toll rose by one, to 142, among Arkansans age 45-54; by five, to 351, among those age 55-64; and by 49, to 2,296, among those age 65 and older.
PRISON OUTBREAKS
The counts of confirmed and probable cases listed on the dashboard rose Friday by more than 100 in six counties.
The cases rose by 280 in Pulaski County; 275 in Washington County; 213 in Benton County; 147 in Saline County; 143 in Faulkner County; and 103 in Craighead County.
Among prison and jail inmates, the Health Department’s count of cases rose by 93.
State Department of Corrections spokeswoman Cindy Murphy said the East Central Arkansas Community Correction Center in West Memphis had 19 new cases among inmates, bringing the total there to 26.
The number of inmates who have tested positive increased by 11 at the East Arkansas Regional Unit near Brickeys; by six each at the Grimes Unit near Newport and the Ouachita River Unit in Malvern; by five at the McPherson Unit near Newport; and by four at the Tucker Unit in Jefferson County.
The Benton and Wrightsville units and the Cummins Unit in Lincoln County each had one new case.
Among those prisons, the Grimes Unit had the largest number of cases that were active, 355, followed by the Tucker Unit, which had 61, and the McPherson Unit, which had 48.
The number of people who have ever been hospitalized with covid-19 in the state rose by 139, to 9,848.
The number of virus patients who have ever been on a ventilator rose by 18, to 1,089.
Meanwhile, the Health Department reported that 10.7% of PCR tests were positive during the seven-day span ending Thursday.
That was down slightly from the 10.9% that was initially reported for the week ending Wednesday.
The percentage for that period later rose to 11.4% as additional test results were reported.
Hutchinson has said he wants to keep the percentage — a gauge of whether the state’s testing is adequate — below 10%.
The Health Department also reported that the percentage of antigen tests that were positive over seven days fell slightly from 20.7% as of Wednesday to 20% as of Thursday.
Dillaha said those tests, which are typically quicker but less accurate than PCR tests, are more likely to be positive because they’re recommended mostly for people with symptoms.
WORKPLACE CLUSTERS
With 20 active cases among employees, a Tyson Foods plant in Green Forest on Thursday topped a Health Department list of workplaces with five or more such cases.
Four other workplaces were also Tyson plants.
The company was listed as having 11 active cases at a Clarksville plant, seven at Tyson’s Mexican Original in Fayetteville, seven at a plant in Dardanelle and five at a plant in Waldron.
ConAgra in Russellville was listed as having 13 active cases and ABB Motors and Mechanical in Fort Smith was listed as having nine.
Denso Manufacturing in Osceola and Quality Voices in Jonesboro were each listed as having seven active cases and Peco Foods in Pocahontas was listed as having six.
American Greetings in Osceola and PotlatchDeltic in Warren were listed as having five active cases each.
The list doesn’t include health care providers , schools or correctional institutions because cases among those types of employers are tracked in other reports.
AVAILABLE BEDS INCREASE
Even with 29 fewer hospital beds in the state’s inventory, the number of regular beds available for new patients increased by 67, going from 2,192 to 2,259 on Friday, according to Health Department data.
The total beds — whether filled or vacant — dropped from 8,923 to 8,894. The total beds include a few hundred in psychiatric or rehabilitation facilities that are not used for covid-19 care.
About 74.5% of the state’s hospital beds are full.
Out of the 1,161 ICU beds, only 79 — or nearly 7% — were available as of late Friday. The available ICU beds dropped by four from 83 the previous day.
There were 372 covid-19 patients in the critical care beds as of Friday afternoon, the same as Thursday.
The inventory of ventilators dropped by three, going from 1,061 to 1,058. About 60%, or 633, ventilators remain available for use, three less than the day before.
Total bed capacity — hospital beds that can be staffed whether or not they are occupied — dropped by 29 beds to 8,864 as of Friday evening.
Maximum flex bed capacity — the number of beds at the hospital regardless of the facility’s ability to staff them — remained the same at 11,503.
The Northwest Arkansas region dropped 25 beds from its total bed capacity as of Friday afternoon.
‘SURGE PLAN’ ACTIVATED
In Fayetteville, Washington Regional Medical Center on Friday planned to implement a new phase of its “surge plan,” Chief Operating Officer Birch Wright said in a statement on the hospital’s website.
“This phase of our surge plan will allow us to schedule additional human resources by shifting some members of our staff to assist in areas of most critical need,” Wright said in the statement, dated Thursday.
“To maximize our nursing and related personnel we must necessarily review our non-urgent surgery schedules and outpatient clinic appointments. Should this impact existing patient appointments, procedures or cases, patients will personally be contacted.”
He said the hospital was seeing a surge in patients after Thanksgiving, similar to ones it had experienced after other holidays, and would “increasingly be challenged to meet the needs of our community” if cases continue rising at their current rate.
“We urge the community to be mindful of this fact as we head toward the Christmas season, New Year’s and as colder weather forces people indoors,” Wright said.
“Holiday gatherings and in- person events of more than 10 people significantly increase the likelihood of transmission of the virus and will likely further stress the area’s health care systems.”
Martine Pollard, spokeswoman for the Northwest Arkansas Health Care Community, a coalition of Northwest Arkansas health care providers, said Friday that the hospitals in Benton and Washington counties were caring for 106 covid-19 patients, nine fewer than the previous day.
According to Health Department data, the Northwest Arkansas region had 67 covid-19 patients in their intensive care units — its highest for the month.
“While this is a high census number, we do want to remind and assure the community that your NWA healthcare community continues to work collaboratively, just as they have since the beginning of the pandemic,” Pollard said in a statement. “This includes monitoring positive cases, testing supplies, equipment and the sharing of resources from patient beds to staffing. Our staffs are tired, but they continue to be committed to providing quality and compassionate care to all our patients.”
In the metro region of the state — which includes Little Rock and other Central Arkansas cities — there were 318 covid-positive admissions with 139 in intensive care as of late Friday.
Arkansas Children’s Hospital continues to expand its capacity to help other hospitals in the crisis, spokeswoman Hilary DeMillo said.
The pediatric hospital has treated 22 adult trauma patients through its emergency room since Nov. 14, when the change went into effect. Of those, six were admitted for care, DeMillo said.
As of Friday, Children’s in Little Rock was caring for six covid-19 positive hospitalized pediatric patients.
Arkansas Children’s Northwest in Springdale has no patients hospitalized with covid-19, DeMillo said.
“They may be admitted because of other conditions,” DeMillo said, adding that all patients are tested for the virus.
Eddie Phillips, chief medical officer for Baptist Health, said the hospital has added 33 ICU beds to the system since the pandemic began and are adding 16 ICU beds in Little Rock that should be ready at the beginning of the year. That will give Baptist Health about 250 ICU beds across the system.
“Available hospital beds as well as ICU beds are extremely limited across our system and this varies hourly. This is a very busy time, but it is important to remember that it is not uncommon to run at or near capacity for ICU beds,” Phillips said. “We also have surge plans to create additional capacity, but the challenge is staffing those beds.”
The hospital system also will have additional ventilators delivered “in a matter of days,” Phillips said.
Staffing of nurses is one of the system’s greatest challenges at the moment, especially critical care staffing, Phillips said.
Baptist Health is meeting its patients’ needs with “quality, safe care, though staffing for health care is always a challenge and something we deal with on a daily basis, Phillips added.
“We are so proud of our health care workers who keep showing up day after day caring for some of the sickest patients in the state,” Phillips said. “They are very tired, but we cannot say thank you enough for what they are doing in the midst of a pandemic.”
Phillips said it’s important that everyone continue to follow preventive measures — wearing masks, washing hands, and maintaining at least 6 feet of distance between one person and the next.
“We want to encourage everyone to remember the important steps to protect ourselves and others,” Phillips said.