COVID-19 update
EDITOR’S NOTE: As a service to our readers, The Sentinel-Record publishes updates released by the city of Hot Springs and the state of Arkansas.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson held his weekly press briefing Tuesday at the Capitol. The following stats were posted Tuesday on the Arkansas Department of Health website:
• 74,772 cumulative confirmed cases, up 486 from Monday.
• 663.86 rolling seven-day average of new confirmed cases, down 27.14 from Monday.
• 897,997 PCR test reports, up 6,473 from Monday.
• 8.3% cumulative PCR infection rate, no change from Monday.
• 2,209 cumulative probable cases, up 131 from Monday.
• 22.9% cumulative antigen infection rate, up from 22.2% Monday.
• 6,583 confirmed and probable active cases, down 123 from Monday.
• 69,184 recoveries of confirmed and probable cases, up
728 from Monday.
• 459 hospitalizations, up 12 from Monday.
• 1,060 confirmed deaths, up
12 from Monday.
• 149 probable deaths, no change from Monday.
• 88 cases on a ventilator, down nine from Monday.
• 1,751 cumulative confirmed cases in Garland County, up 19 from Monday.
• 15.14 rolling seven-day average of new confirmed cases, down 0.43 from Monday.
• 28,134 PCR and antigen test reports, up 408 from Monday.
• 23,718 public lab reports, up
76 from Monday.
• 4,416 public lab reports, up
332 from Monday.
• 6.2% cumulative PCR infection rate, down from 6.3% Monday.
• 137 active confirmed cases in Garland County, up eight from Monday.
• 1,570 recoveries of confirmed cases in Garland County, up 11 from Monday.
• 44 confirmed deaths in Garland County, no change from Monday.
• Five probable deaths in Garland County, no change from Monday.
Hutchinson said the most recent weekly White House Coronavirus Taskforce report on the pandemic in Arkansas was a mixed bag.
The state’s growth rate of new cases ranked fourth nationally, but Hutchinson said the report noted positive cases as a percent of test results are declining. The reports are provided weekly to governors but aren’t released to the public. Some states, including Oklahoma, have made their reports public.
Tuesday’s rolling seven-day
average of new cases was 13% higher than the previous Tuesday’s. The state’s cumulative positivity rate for polymerase chain reaction tests was 8.3% Tuesday, down from the summer peak of 8.9% in mid-August.
“That’s the bad news we had in the report,” Hutchinson, referring to the growth rate of new cases, said. “That’s obviously too high of a weekly growth in cases. That’s why we’re working every day to get that down. That’s a concern. We want fewer cases. We want to slow the growth rate.
“The good news was the reduction in the positivity rate. As you continue to see improvements in the positivity rate, there’s a higher level of confidence that you’re going to eventually see a decline in cases.”
Hospitalizations have risen 19% in the last week. The 459 reported Tuesday was 87% of the Aug. 4 peak of 526. The University of Arkansas for Medical Science’s latest predictive model forecast more than 2,000 hospitalizations by the end of the year.
“There is an upward trend right now in hospitalizations,” Hutchinson said. “We’re not where we’ve been at the peak. We’ve got some margin there. This is a lagging indicator, which indicates increased hospitalizations because of the increased cases that are coming from a week and two weeks ago. We hope as we reduce the cases that will go down as well.”
The Health Department said increased flu shot participation will keep more people out of the hospital and free up bed space for COVID-19 patients. Free flu shots are available at the Health Department’s more than 70 local health units, Dr. Jennifer Dillaha, the department’s director of immunizations, said.
“That is something that in the time of a COVID pandemic is very important to do,” she said. “We all need to take steps to stay out of the hospital.”
Education Secretary Johnny Key said substitute teaching shortages are a “local issue,” explaining that his agency is ill-suited to lead a statewide recruiting effort. School districts with large numbers of staff in quarantine have had difficulty finding enough substitutes.
The state requires faculty and staff who’ve been within 6 feet of an infectious person for 15 total minutes or longer during a 24-hour period to quarantine for 14 days.
“Recruiting of substitute teachers is very much a local flavor,” he said. “We could recruit substitute teachers, but it would be very difficult for a statewide campaign, so to speak, to really solve the needs of a substitute shortage in McGehee.”
Commerce Secretary Mike Preston said people on traditional unemployment assistance have until Friday to recertify their unemployment was caused by the pandemic. The recertification will qualify them for three weeks of Lost Wage Assistance payments the state has been approved for from Aug. 1-22.
He said continued unemployment and Pandemic Unemployment Assistance claims were at their lowest point since late April and early May.
“The numbers are continuing in the right direction, which means people are getting back to work in a safe and secure manner,” he said.
The report the Health Department released Monday on nursing homes with new or additional cases in the last 28 days reported 20 new resident cases at Encore Healthcare and Rehabilitation in Malvern. The most recent positive test was Sept. 16. Nine active resident cases were reported at The Crossing at Malvern.