COVID-19 update
EDITOR’S NOTE: As a service to our readers, The Sentinel-Record will publish updates released each weekday by the city of Hot Springs and the state of Arkansas.
The following stats were shared Monday at Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s daily COVID-19 news conference in Little Rock and posted on the Arkansas Department of Health’s website:
• 12,917 cumulative cases, up 416 from Sunday.
• 205,292 tests reported, up 8,303 from Sunday.
• 6.3% rate of infection, no change from Sunday.
• 4,383 active cases, up 175 from Sunday.
• 8,352 recoveries, up 242 from Sunday.
• 206 hospitalizations, up five from Sunday.
• 513 nursing home residents infected, up four from Sunday.
• 45 cases on a ventilator, no change from Sunday.
• 182 deaths, up three from Sunday.
• 165 cumulative cases in Garland County, up three from Sunday.
• 5,093 tests reported for Garland County, up 138 from Sunday.
• 3.2% rate of infection, down from 3.3% Sunday.
• 137 recoveries in Garland County, up two from Sunday.
• 27 active cases in Garland County, up one from Sunday.
• One death in Garland County, no change from Sunday.
Hutchinson signed executive actions protecting businesses and health care providers from civil claims related to COVID-19 exposure and extending workman’s compensation benefits to people who contract the virus in the workplace.
Businesses and health care providers making a good faith effort to comply with public health directives will be protected. It will be presumed that business owners in compliance with the directives are acting in good faith.
The three executive orders took effect Monday and will remain in place until the public health emergency Hutchinson declared in March ends.
The 416 new cases reported Monday raised the rolling seven-day average of new cases for a six-straight day, increasing Monday’s mark to 453.86. The moving average has grown more than 350% in five weeks.
Garland County’s rolling seven-day average of new cases was also trending upward. Three new cases reported Monday bumped it higher for a third straight day. Monday’s 3.28 average marked a more than 10-fold increase from the June 5 number. Active cases are more than five times higher since then, reaching 27 Monday.
Hutchinson said he didn’t expect the state’s second surge in new cases to abate in the near term, a comment that came as businesses such as restaurants, personal care services, casinos and gyms began expanding operations to two-thirds capacity Monday.
“I expect over the next week that the cases will continue to go up,” he said. “That’s the expectation I have, so I don’t believe we’ve reached the second peak, which could very well be our first peak. We need to take this seriously and make sure we do everything we can to live and at the same time control the spread of the virus.”
Hutchinson said targeted limitations on businesses and social activities implemented in March gave the state time to build up resources such as supply chains for sourcing protective equipment, testing capacity and contact tracing. The onus is now on the public to practice good health habits, he said.
“The response is not passing a mandate that everybody is going to somehow be penalized and turned into law enforcement if they don’t wear a mask,” he said. “They need to wear a mask, but we’re asking for individuals to be socially responsible and to do the right thing. That’s what Arkansas is about.”