Virus deaths in state again hit 1-day high

Toll rises by 58 as hospitals keep up vaccination efforts

Arkansas’ official death toll from the coronavirus rose Wednesday by 58, setting a one-day high for the second time in less than a week, even as hospitals continued administering the state’s first doses of a vaccine to their front-line workers.

The state’s count of cases rose by 2,306, a slightly smaller increase than the 2,327 cases that were added the previous Wednesday, on Dec. 9.

The number of people hospitalized in the state with covid-19 rose by nine, to 1,079.

Those patients included 184 who were on ventilators, down from 190 a day earlier.

The state’s death toll, as tracked by the Department of Health, rose to 3,074.

COVIDComm, a system designed to help match covid-19 patients with hospitals with available bed space and other resources, went online as scheduled Wednesday morning.

It helped facilitate the transfer of 13 patients from one hospital to another on its first day, Health Department spokeswoman Danyelle McNeill said.

In a statement, Gov. Asa Hutchinson said the 4,696 antigen tests for the virus that were performed a day earlier set a new record.

He also noted that “new cases are running flat week over week.”

“Regretfully, we also saw another record in new deaths, with 58 deaths reported yesterday,” Hutchinson said.

“We are distributing the vaccine across the state for our health care workers, and we continue to see high levels of community spread.”

The previous record for the deaths reported in one day was the 55 that were added to the state’s count on Friday.

So far this month, the state has reported an average of 36 virus deaths a day, up from 19 a day last month and just two a day in May.

State Epidemiologist Jennifer Dillaha said the acceleration in deaths is “the result of the sustained high number

of cases that we are experiencing in Arkansas.”

As long as infections continue at their current rate, the daily increase in the death toll is likely to remain high, she said.

“We’re still seeing a lot of hospitalizations, well over 1,000, and many of those people who are hospitalized will not be coming home from the hospital,” Dillaha said. “It’s very sad.”

She said one of the deaths reported Wednesday occurred slightly more than a month earlier and that the rest happened within the past month.

Among nursing home and assisted living facility residents, the state’s death toll rose by 17, to 1,322.

SHOTS QUICKLY GIVEN

Dillaha said the state’s final shipments of its initial allocation of about 25,000 doses of the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech were expected to have arrived Wednesday.

The shots, delivered to hospitals and pharmacies, began arriving Monday and were designated primarily for hospital workers.

Some hospitals said they were quickly going through their first batches and expected to have vaccinated nearly all of their highest-priority employees as soon as this weekend.

They would then start inoculating the next tier of staffers, depending on when additional shipments arrive.

At Baptist Health Medical Center- Little Rock, which received its first two batches Tuesday, nearly 500 immunizations had been given to high-risk employees who work directly with covid-19 patients, Cody Walker, Baptist Health’s vice president of hospital operations, said.

Baptist began inoculating front-line workers Tuesday afternoon. By Wednesday afternoon, 475 employees had been vaccinated, Walker said.

Employees who received a shot included doctors, nurses and staffers working in radiology and respiratory care, Walker said, adding that Baptist is equipped to administer up to 500 vaccinations per day.

The vaccines come in batches of 975 doses.

Some hospitals received one batch, while others received more, based on the number of employees and covid-19 patients. Community pharmacies are delivering smaller quantities to more rural hospitals to match their staffing needs.

“We hope to receive another shipment of vaccines within a week, if not sooner,” Walker said. “We have had a steady line of employees, and thankfully, so far, very few logistical issues.”

By Sunday, Baptist Health-Little Rock could use up nearly 75% of its initial 1,950-dose allocation, Walker said.

“We hope to continue this momentum that we have right now,” he said.

The Little Rock hospital could soon move to “tier two” workers, including people who work in home health care, rehabilitation and “some therapy departments,” Walker said.

“We will probably move into tier two within the next day or so,” he said. “The tiers we had for those front-line staff were relatively small compared to the total number of employees we have.”

Baptist Health, which operates hospitals and clinics around Arkansas, employs about 11,000 people, Walker said.

Baptist Health’s hospital in Fort Smith, which received one batch, administered 215 of its 975 doses as of Wednesday afternoon. Baptist HealthNorth Little Rock, which received the same amount, distributed 180 shots on Wednesday.

St. Bernards Medical Center in Jonesboro could run out of its first shipment of 975 doses by Sunday, spokesman Mitchell Nail said.

“That is what we are hoping,” Nail said. “The response has been incredible. Some [employees] have said it is an early Christmas present.”

St. Bernards will administer nearly 200 shots daily from today through Sunday, he said.

On Wednesday, every single available time for a vaccination was filled up to 8 p.m.

“We were completely booked,” he said. “I don’t think it is out of the norm to say that we could be looking at some tier-two individuals starting to get it.”

St. Bernards has nearly 4,000 employees in its hospital and auxiliary medical facilities, Nail said.

“We are trying not to have more than 25% of a specific department get the vaccine at the same time,” Nail said.

“That is not because we are afraid of the vaccine’s safety, but a vaccine could cause someone to feel run down, and if it sidelines several of your employees, you want to make sure you are able to staff every department,” he said.

SIDE EFFECTS MONITORED

CHI St. Vincent Infirmary in Little Rock, which received 975 doses on Tuesday, is taking a slower approach with distribution to ensure it goes to employees who need it the most and also out of an effort to monitor potential side effects, Dr. Gerry Jones, chief medical officer, said.

“We agreed from the very beginning that we would take a very prescriptive, cautious approach to the vaccination,” Jones said. “We have waited a long time for this. It is a fairly precious resource for us right now, and we want to make sure we are good stewards of that resource.”

Employees began receiving the vaccine Tuesday, Jones said.

He declined to provide the exact number who received an injection. He said CHI St. Vincent Infirmary would double the numbers who receive the vaccine each day.

“We are taking a very methodical approach so we can be careful observing for potential side effects,” Jones said. “At the current rate, I hope we will have the majority of our highestrisk people vaccinated next week.”

Jones said about 1,000 employees have been identified as being in the “highrisk group.”

CHI St. Vincent’s hospital in Hot Springs, which also received one 975-dose tray, began injections Wednesday.

Unity Health has given 213 out of the 975 doses it received at its White County Medical Center in Searcy on Tuesday, spokeswoman Brooke Pryor said. The hospital has “about 762 left,” she said.

“There has been a lot of enthusiasm from staff,” Pryor said. “Processes are working smoothly with the pharmacy and nursing working together to ensure accuracy and proper handling of the vaccine.”

UAMS Medical Center in Little Rock administered 500 doses on Tuesday, the same day the hospital received its two batches, or 1,950 doses, Leslie Taylor, a UAMS spokeswoman, said via email.

More updated numbers on how many UAMS frontline workers received the vaccine will be available today.

Taylor said UAMS is “hoping to administer” its entire vaccine allotment this week.

Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock received 250 doses late Tuesday and began immunizations Wednesday, Hilary DeMillo, a spokeswoman, said via email. She did not provide specific numbers of employees who have received it.

Arkansas Children’s Northwest in Springdale is expecting an allotment of 80 doses today, DeMillo said.

NURSING HOMES NEXT

Dillaha said the state’s second allocation of the Pfizer vaccine, which will also be primarily for hospital workers, is expected next week and will likely include fewer doses.

She said the state is focusing on workers at general acute-care hospitals before moving on to those at psychiatric and rehabilitation hospitals and other health care providers.

However, one psychiatric hospital — the Arkansas State Hospital in Little Rock — was on the list to receive some of the initial allotment of the vaccine this week, McNeill said.

Health Department spokesman Gavin Lesnick said the 18 hospitals that received direct shipments of the vaccine this week have a combined total of 54,184 employees.

The approximately 60 smaller hospitals that were to receive the vaccine from pharmacies have an additional 18,000 employees, he said.

Health Secretary Jose Romero said Tuesday that he also expects the state next week will receive about 45,000 doses of a vaccine developed by Moderna if it’s issued an emergency authorization by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Those vaccines will be shipped to pharmacies that will provide them to nursing home workers and residents.

The state’s vaccination plan calls for health care workers and long-term care facility residents to be first in line.

Lesnick said the longterm care facilities have a total of about 45,000 residents and workers, including 33,000 to 34,000 at nursing homes.

After those groups are covered, the shots would be available to “essential workers” such as teachers, prison guards and grocery store workers.

People age 65 and older and adults with chronic health conditions would be next in line under the state’s tentative plan.

The vaccine would then become available to the general public.

Hutchinson said Tuesday that he was hopeful that could happen by late spring, although the timing will depend on factors such as how many vaccines are approved and how quickly they are produced.

A Health Department document says the priority of groups could change depending on the recommendations of a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory committee led by Romero.

ACTIVE CASES RISE

The cases added to the state’s tallies Wednesday included 1,638 that were confirmed through polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, tests.

The other 668 were “probable” cases, which include those identified through less-sensitive antigen tests.

The state’s cumulative count of cases rose to 191,504.

That comprised 163,230 confirmed cases and 28,274 probable ones.

Over a rolling seven-day period, the average number of cases added to the state’s tallies each day fell by three, to 2,122.

The number of cases that were considered active rose by 84, to 20,774, as 2,164 Arkansans were newly classified as having recovered.

Pulaski County had the largest number of new cases, 242, followed by Washington County with 159, Benton County with 153, Craighead County with 110 and Faulkner County with 103.

Among prison and jail inmates, the Health Department’s count of cases rose by 14.

Department of Corrections spokeswoman Cindy Murphy said the number of inmates who have tested positive rose Wednesday by eight, to 755, at the Varner Unit in Lincoln County; by six, to 1,456, at the Ouachita River Unit in Malvern; by five, to 23, at the Southwest Arkansas Community Correction Center in Texarkana; and by one, to 96, at the Northeast Arkansas Community Correction Center in Osceola.

Among those prisons, the Ouachita River Unit had the largest number of cases that were active, 28, followed by the Varner Unit, which had 24.

The death toll rose by 53, to 2,725, among confirmed cases and by five, to 349, among probable cases.

The count of deaths rose by at least one in 32 of the state’s 75 counties.

Craighead had the largest increase, with six deaths, bringing its toll from the virus to 112.

The count of virus deaths rose by five in Pulaski County, by four each in Saline and Ouachita counties and by three each in Benton and Lonoke counties.

Baxter, Crawford, Faulkner, Greene, Independence, Marion and Sebastian counties each had an increase of two virus deaths.

The number of people who have ever been hospitalized with the virus in the state rose by 134, to 10,230.

The number of the state’s virus patients who have ever been on a ventilator rose by 18, to 1,117.

The availability of intensive care unit beds hit a record low Wednesday when the number dipped to 64 out of the state’s inventory of 1,154 — meaning only 5.5% of the state’s ICU beds remained available.

ICU BEDS SCARCE

The availability of intensive care unit beds hit a record low Wednesday when the number dipped to 64 out of the state’s inventory of 1,154 — meaning only 5.5% of the state’s ICU beds remained available.

“Our ICU is full. We have 47 covid-19 patients and 13 are in the ICU,” said Taylor, the spokeswoman for UAMS. “About 20 beds are available out of our 337 general beds. Our biggest problem continues to be staffing.”

The total beds — whether filled or vacant — increased by 50, from 8,944 to 8,994. The total beds include a few hundred in psychiatric or rehabilitation facilities that are not used for covid-19 care.

Still, the number of available regular hospital beds dropped by 170, from 2,436 on Tuesday to 2,266 on Wednesday.

About 75% of the state’s hospital beds are full.

There were 401 covid-19 patients in the critical care beds as of Wednesday afternoon, five more than Tuesday.

The state’s inventory of ventilators increased by five, going from 1,070 to 1,075. A total of 664 ventilators, about 62%, remain available for use, 18 more than the day before.

The state’s total bed capacity — hospital beds that can be staffed whether or not they are occupied — increased by 98 beds, to 9,012 as of Wednesday evening.

Maximum flex bed capacity — the number of beds at the hospital regardless of the facility’s ability to staff them — increased by eight, to 11,484.

Hospitals in the northwest region added 51 beds and hospitals in the southwest region added 48 beds to their total bed capacity as of Wednesday afternoon. Hospitals in the metro area in the state’s center reduced their total bed capacity by one.

Arkansas Hospital Association CEO Bo Ryall said hospitals are challenged by the increasing demand caused by accelerated transmission in the state.

“We know many are using innovative approaches to help meet demand and care for patients,” he said. “We are hopeful that the COVIDComm system can help hospitals continue to accommodate patient needs, even as cases continue to increase.”

Ryall said the organization is “encouraged and inspired” by the ways hospitals in the state are pulling together, regionally and as a state, “to continue to ensure that all Arkansans can access the care they need.”

“They are openly sharing information — even among hospitals within the same city — and they are holding regular, sometimes daily, calls and meetings to be sure that everyone is kept in the loop,” he said.