Hospitalizations fall below 400

The number of hospitalized covid-19 patients in Arkansas fell below 400 Saturday, a week after falling below 500 for the first time since July 9, according to data published by the Arkansas Department of Health.

There were 28 fewer patients Saturday than Friday for a total of 386, and 120 were on ventilators, the lowest number since July 18, according to the data. The number of covid-19 patients in intensive care fell by two to 173.

The state saw 440 new cases Saturday, 122 fewer than a week earlier, for a total of 509,999 cases since March 2020.

Health Department communications director Meg Mirivel said in an email that the continuing decline in new cases, hospitalizations, ICU occupancy and ventilator use is “good news, especially for our health care system.”

Additionally, 9,849 doses of covid-19 vaccine were administered Saturday, the most shots given in a day since Oct. 7. Saturday’s doses were also 1,385 more than Oct. 16 and 4,266 more than Friday, according to Health Department data.

“Today’s report shows a good day for vaccinations,” Gov. Asa Hutchinson tweeted Saturday. “It’s also good to see declining active cases again. If you’re out at the State Fair this weekend, look for vaccination stations to protect yourself and your family from COVID.”

The Health Department reported 5,637 active, or currently infectious, cases Saturday, 1,142 fewer than Oct. 16.

Benton County had the most new cases in the state Saturday with 51, Pulaski County had 41 and Washington County had 29.

Meanwhile, the Health Department said Friday that a second school in the state — The New School in Fayetteville — has a vaccination rate of at least 70% among its students and employees, meaning it no longer has to quarantine people in response to virus cases.

Head of School Nancy Lang said the designation applies to the private school’s building housing grades seven through 12.

She said the vaccination rate among the employees and 80 students who attend classes in the building exceeded 70% almost from the start of the school year, but it wasn’t until last week, after the school submitted records to the Health Department, that it received word that it had met the state’s criteria to discontinue quarantines.

The percentage is now “well above” 70%, she said.

“We encouraged people to get it as soon as it was available to people,” Lang said. “We certainly encouraged it. We never required it, and we started tracking it.”

State guidelines for schools that exempt people who are fully vaccinated from having to quarantine unless they develop symptoms were also a factor, she said.

“I believe that there’s some motivation for people who believe that it works to stop the spread, and then also I think there’s some motivation that people know that if they’re vaccinated and they’re a close contact, then they don’t have to quarantine,” Lang said.

Despite meeting the 70% benchmark, she said the school is keeping its mask requirement and will continue to use quarantines “on a case-by-case basis.”

“We are trying to limit quarantines, but we’re not trying to turn a blind eye to anything here,” Lang said.

“We want to make the best decision we can in any case where there’s a positive on campus.”

Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced late last month that schools where at least 70% of the students and employees had been fully vaccinated could forgo quarantines.

Earlier this month, Thaden School, a private school in Bentonville, became the first school in Arkansas to be recognized by the state as meeting that threshold.

School nurse Pam Chrisco said the school’s overall rate as of about a week ago was 76%, including 92% of the employees. It met the 70% benchmark even though its 278 students are in grades six through 12, with the youngest students not yet eligible for the vaccines. So far this school year, she said, the school has had just four students who tested positive.

Two of those cases happened early in the year, and the affected students hadn’t yet been to campus. Of the other two cases, she said, one resulted in one person having to quarantine. The other didn’t result in any quarantines because the students were all wearing masks.

Under the state’s guidelines for schools, a person

who has not been fully vaccinated will be required to quarantine for up to 14 days if the person is within 3 feet of an infected person for 15 minutes or longer.

The distance from an infected person that can trigger

the requirement to quarantine was 6 feet until last week. It was shortened in response to complaints from school superintendents.

Now that Thaden School has received approval to forgo quarantines, Chrisco said, it plans to lift its mask mandate after the winter break.

“Our methodology has been to go slowly and sort of more conservatively just to ensure that we don’t end up with a large number of cases, and our Thaden community has really bought into it,” Chrisco said.