Day’s case tally at 729, but state adds 36 deaths

Covid hospitalizations drop

Arkansas posted one of its smallest daily increases in coronavirus cases so far this year on Monday as the number of people hospitalized with the virus in the state fell for the seventh day in a row.

Continuing an uptick in deaths, however, the state’s death toll from the virus, as tracked by the Department of Health, rose by 36, to 9,867.

In a tweet, Gov. Asa Hutchinson referred to a continuing downward trend in the percentage of the state’s coronavirus tests that are positive and in the total number of cases that are considered active, representing people who have tested positive and have not recovered or died.

“Our testing was lower over the weekend, but percent positivity and active cases continue to decline,” Hutchinson said.

“Regrettably, we’re still seeing a higher death toll, and this is expected from a high number of cases. Please talk to your trusted medical advisor about getting vaccinated.”

The state’s count of cases rose by 729.

Due to slowdowns in testing and reporting on weekends, the state’s new case numbers tend to be smaller on Sundays and Mondays than on other days.

Still, except for Jan. 29 and 30, when the Health Department didn’t release daily numbers as it switched to a new data system, the increase on Monday was the smallest daily rise since Dec. 26.

The number of people hospitalized in the state with covid-19 fell by 16, to 1,477, its lowest level in three weeks but still just above its previous peak of 1,459 during the surge driven by the delta variant last summer.

During the current wave of infections from the omicron variant, the number peaked at 1,819 on Jan. 26.

The average daily increase in the state’s case count over a rolling seven-day period fell Monday to 2,616.

It was the first time the average had been below 3,000 since the week ending Jan. 1.

With recoveries and deaths outpacing new cases, the number of cases in the state that were considered active fell by 5,277, to 33,038, the smallest total since Jan. 4.

Dr. Jennifer Dillaha, the Health Department’s chief

medical officer, said 22.1% of the state’s coronavirus tests were positive over the seven-day span ending Sunday, down from the 24.2% that was initially reported for the week ending Thursday and an alltime high of more than 36% in mid-January.

Dropping for the second day in a row, the number of the state’s virus patients who were on ventilators fell Monday by 11, to 218.

After rising the previous two days, the number who were in intensive care fell by 28, to 432.

The number of the state’s intensive care unit beds that were unoccupied, however, fell by three, to 34, due largely to an increase in non-covid-19 patients who were in intensive care.

People with covid-19 made up about 36% of the state’s intensive care unit patients on Monday, down from about 38% a day earlier.

DEATHS TREND UP

Dillaha said one of the deaths reported Monday happened in early January, and the rest occurred within the past month.

Due to delays in reporting as well as the amount of time it can take for someone to succumb to complications from covid-19 after being infected, health officials have said the number of coronavirus deaths reported each day in Arkansas is likely to remain high even as the state’s new cases and hospitalizations fall from the heights they reached last month.

Over the past week, the average number of deaths reported each day was 34, the highest average over a seven-day span in more than a year.

The state’s record is the 46 per day that were reported the week ending Dec. 22, 2020.

During the delta surge, the highest average was the almost 33 a day reported the week ending Sept. 13.

“I would say we would still have an elevated number of deaths as long as our hospitalizations are high,” Dillaha said Monday.

“Hopefully, [hospitalizations will] continue to come down nicely, and then eventually the deaths will begin to come down.”

TESTING DOWN

Due to declining demand, the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences this past weekend stopped opening up its vaccination clinic on Monroe Street in Little Rock on Saturdays.

UAMS spokeswoman Leslie Taylor said Monday that the university’s drive-thru testing clinic in Little Rock likewise will go back to being open just five days a week after Friday, when 12 Arkansas National Guard members are set to finish their assignment there.

Compared to when the Guard members started helping out at the clinic in early January, the number of people seeking tests there each day has “fallen considerably,” Taylor said.

She said UAMS had 64 covid-19 patients on Monday, down from 73 on Friday and a record 99 on Jan. 25.

The patients on Monday included 17 who were in intensive care and 11 on ventilators, Taylor said.

She said 23 of the 64 patients had been fully vaccinated.

Meanwhile, she said 180 of UAMS’ 11,000 employees were out Monday for reasons related to covid-19, down from 253 on Friday.

The number on Monday included 86 workers, all but six of whom were health care workers, who had tested positive for the virus.

“We do expect those numbers may go up a little bit” since some employees were not on campus Thursday and Friday due a winter storm that hit the state last week, Taylor said.

Employees who work at the campus must take an online screening for covid-19 symptoms before they arrive, she said.

Baptist Health’s 11 hospitals around the state over the weekend “experienced the largest drop in hospitalized COVID-19 patients since this last surge began,” spokeswoman Cara Wade said in an email.

From Friday to Monday, she said, the number fell by 49, to 312.

Over the same three days, the number who were in intensive care fell by nine, to 92. The number on ventilators fell by eight, to 60.

“We have fortunately been able to keep surgeries going as scheduled for our patients,” Wade said.

“Our numbers of employees out due to COVID-19 have greatly improved and hospitalizations are headed in the right direction, so we are very hopeful that surgeries will not be impacted.”

Of the 312 covid-19 patients on Monday, she said 65% were unvaccinated. An additional 21% had received one or two doses but had not received a booster shot.

The remaining 14% had been fully vaccinated and had received boosters.

Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock and Arkansas Children’s Northwest in Springdale had a total of 22 covid-19 patients on Monday, down from 31 on Friday and a record of 46 on Jan. 19, spokeswoman Hilary DeMillo said.

She said the patients on Monday included two who were in intensive care and one on a ventilator.

More than half of the 22 patients were at least 5 years old, making them eligible for vaccination, but only three had been fully immunized, DeMillo said.

SCHOOL CASES

Among students and employees at the state’s public elementary and secondary schools, the number of active cases fell over the past week by more than half, from 10,962 to 5,102, according to Health Department reports.

Over the same period, the number of the state’s 261 school districts and charter school systems with at least five active cases fell by 34, to 174.

The reports are normally

issued on Mondays and Thursdays, but one wasn’t issued this past Thursday due to the weather.

The reports have showed the active case total consistently declining since it peaked at an alltime high of 20,937 on Jan. 20.

As of Monday, the Bentonville School District had the largest number of active cases, 284, followed by the Pulaski County Special School District with 264 and the Cabot School District with 231.

At private elementary and secondary schools, the number of active cases among students and employees fell over the past week by 166, to 195.

Little Rock Christian Academy had the highest total, 22, on Monday, followed by Christ the King School in Little Rock with 20 and St. Vincent De Paul Catholic School in Rogers with 19.

FORECAST RELEASED

In an “issue brief ” on Monday, based on data through Jan. 30, researchers at UAMS’ Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health said they expect the state’s new cases and hospitalizations to continue declining through at least March 1.

“It is very likely the third and largest COVID wave has peaked in Arkansas,” the researchers wrote.

“Even so, we are not out of the woods. The Omicron variant is highly infectious and capable of causing severe illness. Positivity rates are still high, suggesting continuing community spread. There are a large number of Arkansans unvaccinated or partially vaccinated.”

From Jan. 31 through March 1, they predicted that 2,195 Arkansans would be newly hospitalized with covid-19, with the number of deaths rising by 392.

The researchers said vaccination is “the best method of prevention” and also recommended people wear masks in public and avoid crowds.

CASES BY COUNTY

Pulaski County had the most new cases on Monday, 163, followed by Benton County with 70 and White County with 51.

The state’s cumulative count of cases since March 2020 rose to 795,071.

The number of people who have ever been hospitalized with covid-19 in Arkansas grew Monday by 15, to 33,924.

The number of the state’s virus patients who have ever been on a ventilator rose by two, to 3,459.

VACCINATIONS DOWN

The Health Department’s tally of vaccine doses that had been administered rose by 1,190, the smallest daily increase on a Monday since the department started regularly reporting daily vaccination numbers in January 2021.

It was the third-smallest daily increase on any day, with the smallest being the 612 doses that were reported on Dec. 26, followed by the 917 doses reported on Sunday.

Of the doses reported Monday, 29% were booster doses.

The count of first doses rose by 507.

The average number of total doses administered each day over a rolling seven-day period fell to 2,721, the first time it had ever been below 3,000.

The average for first doses fell to 732, which was also a new low.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 65.2% of Arkansans had received at least one dose as of Monday, and 52.9% were fully vaccinated.

Of those who were fully vaccinated, 36.8% had received a booster dose.

Among the states and District of Columbia, Arkansas ranked 37th in the percentage of its residents who had received at least one dose.

In the percentage who were fully vaccinated, it was roughly tied with Tennessee for 45th, ahead of Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, Wyoming and Alabama.

Nationally, 75.7% of people had received at least one dose, and 64.1% had been fully vaccinated.

Of the fully vaccinated population nationally, 42.3% had received a booster dose.

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette