Health agencies report five new Covid deaths in region over past week

St. Francis County’s vaccination rate 37.4%

Five people from this region of the state have died from Covid complications since last week, bringing the total number of Covid deaths to seven in this area since the beginning of July.

To date, according to information provided by the Arkansas Department of Health, the deaths of 312 people in St. Francis, Lee, Cross, Crittenden, Monroe, Phillips and Woodruff counties have been caused by the virus since the pandemic began.

The death toll includes 46 from St. Francis County, an increase of two this month. Lee County has also seen its virus deaths increase by two this month to 39, and two additional deaths are being reported in Cross County. The ADH report shows the other death in the region this month was in Phillips County.

The Centers for Disease Control reports the level of community transmission for the virus is high in most all counties in this region, with the exception of Woodruff and Crittenden counties. The CDC reports the transmission level in Woodruff County is moderate, while that level is considered substantial in Crittenden County.

According to the CDC, the vaccination levels in each of these counties remains less than 50% of the eligible population.

The CDC report shows that in SFC, 37.4% of eligible residents have received at least one dose of a vaccine.

Lee, Crittenden and Phillips counties have a lower percentage of residents who have received at least one dose, according to the CDC. In Lee County, 27.8% of the eligible population has received one dose. In Crittenden County, that number is 32.1%, and in Phillips County, it is 35.8%.

Monroe, Woodruff and Cross counties have a higher vaccination rate than SFC, according to the CDC, with Monroe County leading the region on vaccinations with 44.5% of its eligible population reported as having received at least one vaccine dose. Woodruff County’s vaccination rate is 43.7%, and in Cross County, 37.9% of eligible residents have received at least one dose of a vaccine.

The CDC report shows that over the past seven days, St. Francis and Crittenden counties have each reported an additional 39 Covid cases. Lee County has 15 new cases, Cross, 21; Phillips, 18 and Monroe, 16. The CDC did not offer a number of new cases in Woodruff County, only reporting that number was less than 10.

Since mid-March last year, this region has seen 17,303 confirmed Covid cases, an increase of 350 since the beginning of this month, according to the ADH.

The recoveries, to date, are being reported at 16,725, with the total number of tests for the virus reported at 157,365, an increase of nearly 4,000 since the beginning of this month.