COVID-19 update
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 update Tuesday at the state Capitol. The following stats were posted Tuesday on the Arkansas Department of Health website:
• 150,612 cumulative confirmed cases, up 1,437 from Monday.
• 1,630.58 rolling seven-day average of new confirmed cases, up 42.15 from Monday.
• 1,783,498 PCR test reports, up 10,425 from Monday.
• 8.4% cumulative PCR infection rate, no change from Monday.
• 23,713 cumulative probable cases, up 846 from Monday.
• 17.7% cumulative antigen infection rate, down from 17.8% Monday.
• 18,461 active confirmed and probable cases, up 404 from Monday.
• 153,088 recoveries of confirmed and probable cases, up
1,840 from Monday.
• 1,081 hospitalizations, up
28 from Monday.
• 182 cases on a ventilator, no change from Monday.
• 2,521 confirmed deaths, up 36 from Monday.
• 231 probable deaths, up three from Monday.
• 1, 169 nursing home deaths, up 14 from Monday.
• 3,885 cumulative confirmed cases in Garland County, up 99 from Monday.
• 42.86 rolling seven- day average of new confirmed cases, up 12.15 from Monday.
• 56,412 PCR and antigen test reports, up 305 from Monday.
• 39,829 private lab reports, up 239 from Monday.
• 16,583 public lab reports, up 66 from Monday.
• 7.2% cumulative PCR infection rate, up from 7.1% Monday.
• 392 active confirmed cases in Garland County, up 71 from Monday.
• 3,379 recoveries of confirmed cases in Garland County, up 25 from Monday.
• 415 cumulative probable cases in Garland County, up 25 from Monday.
• 100 active probable cases in Garland County, up 12 from Monday.
• 114 confirmed deaths, up three from Monday.
• Six probable deaths, no change from Monday.
The 99 new confirmed cases reported Tuesday in Garland County raised its infection curve 40% and pushed active confirmed cases close
to a new peak.
The new infections raised the county’s rolling seven-day average of new confirmed cases to 42.86, the highest point its reached this month. The 392 active confirmed cases reported in the county trailed only the 396 reported on Thanksgiving.
The more than 100 new confirmed and probable cases reported in the county Tuesday ranked fourth statewide. The new cases raised the cumulative polymerase chain reaction infection rate one-tenth of a point. The rate is above 7%, its highest level since mid-August.
The state’s infection curve peaked for the fifth day in a row Tuesday, rising 30% since Thursday and 117% since Halloween.
A report the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released earlier this year showed people with COVID-19 were twice as likely to have visited an indoor dining establishment or bar in the weeks prior to symptom onset. The Health Department said it’s difficult to trace infections back to their source.
“Unfortunately, because of the long incubation period and really the various times people can become infected at different places, it’s exceedingly difficult to pin down where exactly somebody was infected,” Dr. Mike Cima, the Health Department’s chief epidemiologist and associate director for science, said. “We’re trying to capture as much detailed information as we can.
“A lot of this information is qualitative in nature. We are analyzing that, and we are finding social clusters related to Halloween. We’ll be looking into social clusters related to Thanksgiving as well as that data becomes available.”
Spread proceeding from social gatherings has prompted Hutchinson to consider lowering the attendance threshold for indoor gatherings that require Health Department approval. Gatherings of 100 people or fewer don’t require a social distancing plan to be submitted to the Health Department.
Hutchinson said the directive would apply to indoor events in a commercial setting and wouldn’t affect restaurants or places of worship.
“We’re not issuing that today,” he said. “We want to continue hearing from communities I’ll be visiting this week. If you’re considering an event, please feel free to call the Health Department for guidance and let them know what precautions you have in place.
“Even though that’s only mandated for groups of 100 or more to get that prior approval, they stand ready to help in the event there’s a wedding or employer get together that needs to have that type of guidance. We want everyone to be safe.”
Dr. Jose Romero, the state’s secretary of health, said the two vaccines seeking emergency- use authorization are not interchangeable. He said the initial dose of Pfizer’s vaccine has to be followed by a Pfizer booster, and the initial dose of Moderna’s vaccine has to be followed by a Moderna booster shot.
Both vaccines would be the first using messenger RNA technology the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved for human use. They use the virus’ genetic code to instruct cells to build the spike protein on the surface of the virus, priming the immune system to recognize the real virus.
Romero said the state will follow the CDC recommendation to prioritize health care workers and nursing home residents in vaccine distribution.
“We have been told by the federal government that we will be receiving weekly allotments, which we’ll be using to immunize new individuals and three or four weeks later we’ll receive another allotment to go back to the first group and immunize them,” Romero said of the Pfizer vaccine. “It’s sequential and planned, and we’ll also receive the same with Moderna.”