SFC loses 50 residents to Covid in 2021; cases increasing

St. Francis County lost more than 50 residents to Covid last year as virus cases continue to surge.

December also saw an uptick in cases throughout the region, which in addition to St. Francis County also includes Lee, Cross, Phillips, Monroe, Crittenden and Woodruff counties.

The Arkansas Department of Health reports 73 residents of the county have died from Covid since the pandemic began in March 2020. Four of those deaths were reported in December, bringing the county’s Covid death toll to 53 for 2021. Crittenden County, the largest in this region, lost 10 more residents to Covid in December, bringing that county’s total number of deaths to 190. Woodruff County, the region’s smallest, saw no new Covid deaths in December. That county, however, has seen the virus claim 24 of its residents, with 22 of those deaths occurring last year.

Lee County’s virus death toll has reached 55, with three added in December. Twenty-nine of the total deaths occurred last year. In Cross County, 72 people have died from Covid, with six deaths occurring in December. The ADH report shows 36 of the county’s total Covid deaths occurred last year.

Phillips County’s virus death toll stands at 83, with six of those reported in December. The ADH report shows 58 virus deaths were reported in that county last year. Monroe County has lost 26 residents to the virus, with one death added in December. Nineteen virus deaths were reported in Monroe County last year.

To date, 523 people in the seven counties have died from Covid.

Throughout the region, 2,315 virus cases were diagnosed in December, bringing the total number of cases to 26,954, which includes 14,588 cases diagnosed in 2021.

The majority of new Covid cases last month were in Crittenden County, where 1,201 new cases were diagnosed. In SFC, 348 new case of the virus were diagnosed, and in Phillips County, the ADH reported an additional 309 cases. There were 130 new cases in Lee County, 175 in Cross County, 59 in Monroe County and 93 in Woodruff County.

The Centers for Disease Control shows that the community transmission level for the virus is high in all counties in this area, cautioning people to wear a mask in public, indoor settings.

According to the CDC, in five of the seven counties in this region, the vaccination rate for those ages five and over is more than half of the eligible population.

The CDC shows SFC has 50.5% of its residents ages five and over fully vaccinated. Woodruff County has the highest vaccination rate in this category at 57.4%, and Lee County has the lowest at 33.3%. Crittenden County is also below the 50% mark with 45.4% of its population ages five and over fully vaccinated. In Cross County, 52.2% are vaccinated, 56.2% are vaccinated in Monroe County, and in Phillips County, 50.5% are vaccinated.