ADH reports 45th Covid death in SFC

A St. Francis County resident is among the 11 new Covid deaths being reported by the Arkansas Department of Health, as the number of cases reported locally increases.

On Thursday, the ADH reported the state’s death toll from the virus reached 5,944, with 45 of those being from SFC.

In this region of the state, which in addition to SFC includes Lee, Cross, Crittenden, Monroe, Phillips and Woodruff counties, the ADH has reported 308 Covid deaths.

The number of positive Covid cases across the state increased by 1,210 on Thursday.

The ADH report shows 10 of those cases were added to SFC’s total, which is the largest increase in this region. To date, 3,675 SFC residents have been diagnosed with Covid.

Monroe County reported five new cases on Thursday, followed by two each in Phillips and Cross counties, and one each in Lee and Crittenden counties. There were no new cases reported in Woodruff County on Thursday.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson expressed his concerns over the increase in new cases and deaths during a public meeting in Cabot Thursday where he and other state officials answered questions regarding the vaccines.

The CDC reported Thursday that the number of Arkansans who had received at least one vaccine dose rose by 3,201, to 1,285,934, representing about 42.6% of the state's population.

The number of those who have been fully vaccinated rose by 2,471, to 1,046,644, or about 34.7% of the population.