College says more virus waves likely

The state should prepare for the “continuing presence” of COVID-19, the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health said earlier this week.

The college predicted that infections will continue to crest and fall, as they did with the two-month rise and fall of the omicron variant. It said future waves could follow a similar pattern, with spikes coming in shorter succession than the four months between last summer’s delta wave and the omicron wave that began building late last year.

“The speed of the waves depends on the infectiousness of the variants produced, and omicron was extremely infectious,” the college said in the report it released earlier this week with its updated predictive model. “A new variant is beginning to circulate in the state. B.2, or ‘stealth omicron,’ is even more infectious than omicron.

“Therefore, it is quite likely Arkansas has not seen the back of COVID, nor, with the chances of more mutations, is the virus likely to settle down and become endemic.”

The White House said Wednesday that 90% of the orders for free COVID-19 tests have been shipped. More than 60 million orders have been received since the program started in January.

The rapid antigen tests the Food and Drug Administration approved on an emergency basis provide results within 15 minutes. They detect antigens, a protein on the surface of the coronavirus. Polymerase chain reaction tests amplify trace amounts of the virus’ DNA and are more accurate than antigen tests but take longer to produce results.

As a service to our readers, The Sentinel-Record publishes updates released by the city of Hot Springs and the state of Arkansas.

The Arkansas Department of Health is no longer reporting confirmed and probable cases separately. Not all of Thursday’s stats were available at presstime. The following stats were posted on the Health Department’s website:

• 817,798 cumulative cases, up 571 from Wednesday.

• 875.57 rolling seven-day average of new cases, down 82.57 from Wednesday.

• 4,950,199 PCR test reports, up 4,920 from Wednesday.

• 11.6% cumulative PCR infection rate, no change from Wednesday.

• 7,500 active cases, down 751 from Wednesday.

• 1,306 active juvenile cases, down 70 from Wednesday.

• 799,681 recoveries, up 1,284 from Wednesday.

• 5,143,450 vaccine doses received, up 300 from Wednesday.

• 3,944,564 doses given, up 1,870 from Wednesday.

• 545 hospitalizations, down 57 from Wednesday.

• 89 cases on ventilators, down six from Wednesday.

• 10,381 deaths, up 40 from Wednesday.

• 2,345 nursing home deaths, no change from Wednesday.

• 22,467 cumulative cases in Garland County, up three from Wednesday.

• 26.43 rolling seven-day average of new cases, down 2.71 from Wednesday.

• 160 active cases in Garland County, down 13 from Wednesday.

• 21,844 recoveries in Garland County, up 15 from Wednesday.

• 463 deaths, up one from Wednesday.