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.

The following stats were posted Monday on the Arkansas Department of Health website:

• 160,356 cumulative confirmed cases, up

1,233 from Sunday.

• 1,608.86 rolling seven-day average of new confirmed cases, up 32.72 from Sunday.

• 1,866,199 PCR test reports, up 10,495 from Sunday.

• 8.6% cumulative PCR infection rate, no change from Sunday.

• 26,701 cumulative probable cases, up 122 from Sunday.

• 18.2% cumulative antigen infection rate, no change from Sunday.

• 20,691 active confirmed and probable cases, down 704 from Sunday.

• 163,351 recoveries of confirmed and probable cases, up 2,014 from Sunday.

• 1,050 hospitalizations, down seven from Sunday.

• 180 cases on a ventilator, down one from Sunday.

• 2,656 confirmed deaths, up 23 from Sunday.

• 334 probable deaths, up 22 from Sunday.

• 1,295 nursing home deaths, up 21 from Sunday.

• 4,147 cumulative confirmed cases in Garland County, up 29 from Sunday.

• 51.57 rolling seven-day average of new confirmed cases, down 1.57 from Sunday.

• 58,827 PCR and antigen test reports, up 240 from Sunday.

• 41,710 private lab reports, up 179 from Sunday.

• 17,117 public lab reports, up 61 from Sunday.

• 7.5% cumulative PCR infection rate, no change from Sunday.

• 409 active confirmed cases in Garland County, down 17 from Sunday.

• 3,621 recoveries of confirmed cases in Garland County, up

46 from Sunday.

• 468 cumulative probable cases in Garland County, up three from Sunday.

• 90 active probable cases in Garland County, down nine from Sunday.

A Health Department nurse was the first Arkansan to receive Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Monday.

Sherian Kwanisai was given the messenger RNA- based vaccine Monday along with four other front line health care workers. Dr. Greg Bledsoe, the state’s surgeon general and an emergency room physician, was among the first vaccinated.

“Today is a hopeful day,” Hutchinson said in a news release. “After months of work, a COVID-19 vaccine is in Arkansas, and the first vaccine was given to Sherian Kwanisai today. The (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) should approve additional vaccines soon, and we will be set to cover our long-term care facilities.

“Brighter days are ahead, but we must continue to follow public health guidelines. This virus continues to rapidly spread, and it’s up to each of us to do our part to slow the spread.”

The state’s infection curve remained below the Dec. 9 peak for a fifth-straight day Monday but rose 2% relative to Sunday’s rolling seven-day average of new confirmed cases. The moving average peaked last week at 1,666.29.

Hospitalizations remained below the Dec. 2 peak of 1,088 for a 12th-straight day Monday, falling to 1,050. The state has yet to see a sharp rise in hospitalizations following the Thanksgiving holiday. The moving average of new confirmed cases rose 20% from Thanksgiving to the Dec. 9 peak, while hospitalizations rose 6% over that time.

Garland County’s infection curve peaked for the second time in three days Sunday, but the 29 new confirmed cases reported in the county Monday lowered the moving seven-day average 3%. The 29 confirmed cases replaced the 40 reported the previous Monday in the moving average.