COVID-19 update
EDITOR’S NOTE: As a service to our readers, The Sentinel-Record will publish updates released each weekday by the city of Hot Springs and the state of Arkansas.
At Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s daily
COVID-19 press conference Tuesday the following updates were shared:
• 2,227 confirmed cases statewide, up 304 from Monday (Tuesday’s new cases include 262 from the Cummins Unit of the Arkansas Department of Correction).
• 809 recoveries, up 60 from Monday.
• 43 deaths, up one from Monday.
• 86 cases requiring hospitalization, down seven from Monday.
• 135 cases in nursing homes, up seven from Monday.
• 27 cases on a ventilator, up four from Monday.
• 109 confirmed cases in Garland County, up two from Monday.
• 7.2% rate of infection for Garland County, up from 6.9% Monday.
• 62 recoveries for Garland County, up four from Monday.
The task force organized to coordinate the local response to the coronavirus pandemic said local mitigation efforts continue to yield promising signs.
A summary of the group’s Monday morning meeting provided by the city of Hot Springs’ public information department noted Garland County is among the state leaders in total and per capita testing for COVID-19.
“Among the 10 most populous counties in the state, Garland County is way ahead,” Dr. Gene Shelby, the county’s health officer, said at the weekly meeting. “As far as testing, we are the stars. The hospitals and clinics need to keep it up, and they need to keep getting the credit they deserve.”
Garland County Department of Emergency Management Director Bo Robertson said the number of positive tests as a percentage of the county’s test results is about 7%, mirroring the statewide infection rate after dropping from a high of 9.3%. Robertson said the drop could signal the county is on the descending end of its epidemiological curve.
Information Hutchinson presented Tuesday at his daily briefing showed the county’s number of new cases declined from the 17 reported from specimens collected April 12. Specimens collected Friday, Saturday and Monday had one new case each day. Specimens collected April 15 and 16 had three and two positives.
The local task force said the decline in calls to the COVID-19 Call Center staffed by nurses and
National Park College nursing instructors and nursing students is another indication of a downward trend in the county. People with
COVID-19 symptoms are encouraged to call the phone bank at 501760-4307 before visiting one of the county’s five drive through evaluation centers.
They’re located at 1629 Airport Road, 4419 Highway 7 north in Hot Springs Village, 124 Hollywood Ave., 100 McGowan Court and 4517 Park Ave. in Fountain Lake.
Task force representatives from CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs and National Park Medical Center said the coronavirus hasn’t strained hospital resources, and that residents shouldn’t hesitate to go to the hospital for emergency care.
“Area hospitals are not overwhelmed by the virus, as hospitals might be in the nation’s hot spots,” the city’s task force report said. “In fact, the number of hospitalizations COVID-19 patients in Hot Springs has remained very low.”
Inmates in the Cummins Unit of the Arkansas Department of Corrections accounted for 262 of the 304 new cases reported statewide Tuesday. The state said as of late Monday 670 inmates in the southeast Arkansas prison have tested positive, or roughly half of the inmates who reside in the main barracks.