Hospital cases top 500 mark

Arkansas’ downturn in new coronavirus cases continued on Monday even as the number of people hospitalized with covid- 19 in the state topped 500 for the first time in almost two months.

The state’s count of cases rose by 275, the seventh daily increase in a row that was smaller than the one a week earlier.

Arkansas’ death toll from the virus, as tracked by the Department of Health, rose by 17, to 8,865.

In a tweet, Gov. Asa Hutchinson referred to the state’s active-case total, which fell by 697, to 7,388, as recoveries and deaths outpaced new cases.

It was the second day in a row that the number had fallen after reaching a two-month high Saturday.

“While our active cases declined, the continued increase in hospitalizations is a concern,” Hutchinson said.

“New cases are lower than last week, but we still need to improve our vaccination rate. Let’s continue to make the choice to get vaccinated.”

While larger by 57 than the one a day earlier, the increase in cases on Monday was smaller by 27 than the one the previous Monday.

As a result, the average daily increase over a rolling seven-day period fell to 720, down from a recent high of 838 a day for the week ending Dec. 6.

Rising for the fifth day in a row, the number of hospital cases jumped by 24, to 510, its highest level since Oct. 13 and the first time since Oct. 15 that it had been above 500.

After not changing a day earlier, however, the number of coronavirus patients who were on ventilators fell by five, to 103.

The number who were in intensive care fell by 10, to 204, after rising the previous four days.

The number of intensive care unit beds in the state’s hospitals that were unoccupied rose by five, to 62.

People with covid-19 made up 19% of all the state’s patients who were in intensive care on Monday, down from almost 20% a day earlier.

HOSPITAL CONCERNS

If the state’s new cases continue to trend downward, hospitalizations should also start dropping, Dr. Jennifer Dillaha, the Health Department’s chief medical officer, said.

That would provide some relief for hospitals heading into Christmas and New Year’s Eve, when holiday gatherings are expected to spark new surges in cases.

Adding to concerns about the state’s hospital capacity are the highly transmissible omicron variant, which hadn’t been detected in Arkansas as of Monday, and the flu.

According to the Health Department’s most recent flu report, from last week, visits to doctor’s offices by people with flu-like symptoms remain “low,” but above average for this time of year compared with other recent flu seasons.

Although initial reports suggest the omicron variant causes severe illness less often than the still-dominant delta variant, it also appears to be more transmissible, Dillaha said.

“If there’s a lot more cases, you could still potentially fill up the hospital beds with people with the omicron variant just because of the sheer numbers,” Dillaha said.

On top of that, she said, “I understand from some of my health care colleagues that burnout is a significant problem right now and that it’s not as easy to retain and recruit hospital staff as it previously was.”

Dillaha said she would “strongly encourage everyone to do whatever they can to stay out of the hospital,” including getting vaccinated against covid-19 and the flu, getting a covid-19 booster shot at the appropriate time and wearing a mask when around people who may not be vaccinated.

Health Department spokeswoman Katie White said the department as of Monday had been notified of 30 people in Arkansas, up from 22 as of late last week, who had recently been to one of eight countries in southern Africa that are subject to a federal travel restriction that took effect late last month in response to the omicron variant.

Through a contractor, the department has been contacting the people and advising them to get tested and quarantine for at least seven days.

None of the people had tested positive as of Monday, White said.

Coronavirus-related concerns prompted a shift to virtual instruction this week for some students in the Deer/Mount Judea School District in Newton County, Kimberly Mundell, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Education’s Division of Elementary and Secondary Education, said.

On its website and Facebook page, the district said its elementary school would be holding classes remotely for the rest of the week starting today.

CASES BY COUNTY

Benton County had the most new cases on Monday, 27, followed by Craighead County with 22 and Sebastian County with 19.

The state’s cumulative count of cases rose to 538,701.

Dillaha said six of the deaths reported Monday happened in September, and the rest occurred within the past month.

She said 7.7% of the state’s coronavirus tests were positive over the seven-day span ending Sunday, down from the 8.1% that was initially reported for the week ending Thursday.

Hutchinson has said he wants to keep the percentage below 10%.

The number of people who have ever been hospitalized in the state with covid-19 grew Monday by 31, to 28,883.

The number of the state’s virus patients who have ever been on a ventilator rose by one, to 3,040.

VACCINATIONS DOWN

Meanwhile, at 2,746, the increase in the Health Department’s tally of vaccine doses that had been administered was the fourth one in a row that was smaller than the one a week earlier.

Booster shots made up about 45% of the most recent increase.

The count of first doses rose by 987, which was smaller by 38 than the increase in first doses a week earlier.

The average number of total doses administered each day over a rolling seven-day period fell to 10,966, while the average for first doses fell to 3,231.

Both were down from threemonth highs they reached the week ending Thursday, when the average for total doses topped 12,000 a day and the average for first doses was above 3,600.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 61.7% of Arkansans had received at least one vaccine dose as of Monday, and 50.4% had been fully vaccinated.

Of those who had been fully vaccinated, 26.1% had received a booster dose.

Among the states and District of Columbia, Arkansas continued to rank 37th in the percentage of its residents who had received at least one dose and 44th, ahead of Tennessee, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Wyoming and Idaho, in the percentage who were fully vaccinated.