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.
The following stats were shared Thursday at Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s daily COVID-19 news conference in Little Rock and posted on the Arkansas Department of Health’s website:
• 2,465 confirmed cases statewide, up 189 from Wednesday (Thursday’s results included
122 inmates in the Cummins Unit of the Arkansas Department of Correction).
• 33,986 test results, up 4,273 from Wednesday.
• 7.3% rate of infection, down from 7.7% Wednesday.
• 902 recoveries, up 39 from Wednesday.
• 45 deaths, up three from Wednesday.
• 101 cases requiring hospitalization, up four from Wednesday.
• 174 cases in nursing homes, up four from Wednesday.
• 24 cases on a ventilator, up one from Wednesday.
• 109 confirmed cases in Garland County, no change from Wednesday.
• 1,660 test results from Garland County, up
70 from Wednesday.
• 6.6% rate of infection for Garland County, down from 6.9% Wednesday.
• 68 recoveries for Garland County, up one from Wednesday.
Hutchinson announced the Arkansas Surge Campaign, a two-day effort encouraging residents with COVID-19 symptoms to get tested. The goal is to test 1,500 people each today and Saturday, helping the state get a clearer picture of the coronavirus’ prevalence as officials move closer to the May 4 target date for reopening parts of the state’s economy. It would be about a
50% increase over the number of daily tests the state has done in recent weeks, he said.
“If you think you have symptoms, don’t wait, get tested,” he said at his daily briefing, explaining that the surge will reveal public demand for testing and potential clusters of symptomatic people who haven’t been tested.
The two-day exercise proceeds from the advisory group on testing strategies Hutchinson formed. The group’s plan includes taking advantage of hospitals and clinics’ unused testing capacity to identify active infections and developing antibody testing strategies to track where the virus has been. People carrying protective antibodies could be selected as potential blood donors for the infected, Dr. Nate Smith, Health Department secretary, said.
Dr. Cam Patterson, chancellor of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, noted peak resource use the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation projected for the state has been lowered each of the last three weeks, indicating the spike in cases the model predicted earlier this month may have been averted.
“That doesn’t mean that gives us the liberty to let our guard down, but it causes us to think about the possibility we will never have a surge but we’ll end up with a steady state we continue to work on with better testing and treatment modalities,” he said.
Health Department stats posted Thursday included no new cases for Garland County. No new cases have been reported in five of the last six days, and six new cases have been reported since April 15. The Health Department reported 350 specimens from the county have been tested from April 16 through Thursday.
The city of Hot Springs said Thursday that the April Solid Waste Spring Fling cleanup scheduled Saturday has been postponed and tentatively rescheduled for the fall.