The number of Arkansans hospitalized with covid-19 reached another record, the Arkansas Department of Health reported Saturday.
The total was 1,216 patients, an increase of 31 since Friday.
"It's really worrisome that the hospitalizations have gone up," said Dr. Jennifer Dillaha, the state's chief epidemiologist. "This is a record high for hospitalizations."
She said increases in hospitalizations usually lag a few days behind increases in covid-19 cases.
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The number of new Arkansas coronavirus cases rose by 2,000 Saturday after a record-breaking increase of 4,304 Friday.
But Gov. Asa Hutchinson cautioned Arkansans not to get the wrong idea from that lower number.
"The reduced number of new cases is partly because of lower testing yesterday," Hutchinson said on Twitter late Saturday. "Forty percent of the new cases are coming from five counties, but the virus is active in every county. So, let's all be careful and safe as we start the week."
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The counties with the highest number of new cases Saturday were Pulaski with 244, Benton with 219, Washington with 213, Faulkner with 98 and Pope with 96.
Dillaha said the decrease in the number of new cases Saturday was likely because Friday was a holiday, New Year's Day, and fewer labs were processing covid-19 tests that day.
Dillaha said she expects the number of new cases to increase, partially because of travel during the holidays.
"Given the high number of new cases we've had recently, I think it's fairly predictable that we would have an increase in hospitalizations, and given the high number of new cases we had yesterday, I expect the hospitalizations to continue to rise," she said Saturday.
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Dillaha said the previous high for hospitalizations in Arkansas was 1,195 on Thursday.
Friday's increase of 4,304 new covid-19 cases was the highest single-day increase since the start of the pandemic in March. The previous record-breaking increase was on Dec. 24, with 3,204 new cases.
Saturday's increase of 2,000 brought the cumulative number of cases in Arkansas to 231,442.
There were 59 new confirmed cases at prisons and 1,538 new confirmed cases in the community (those numbers don't include probable cases from rapid antigen tests).
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Currently, there are 23,986 active cases of the coronavirus in Arkansas, according to the Health Department.
Eighteen additional covid-19 deaths were reported in Arkansas, bringing the total to 3,729.
A total of 197 covid-19 patients were on ventilators, according to Saturday's report from the Health Department. That's a decrease of eight from Friday.
Dillaha said that's not necessarily good news.
"About half of the people who go on ventilators pass away," she said.
A total of 11,487 people have been hospitalized in Arkansas because of covid-19 since the start of the pandemic, according to the Health Department.
The total number who have been on ventilators is 1,231.
A total of 203,701 Arkansans have recovered from the coronavirus, according to the Health Department. The definition of "recovered," according to Danyelle McNeill, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health is:
"After a 10-day isolation period after the onset of symptoms or from the date of test if a patient is asymptomatic, a nurse will attempt to call the patient. If the patient has not had a fever for at least a day and the symptoms are improving, the patient will be marked as recovered. If we are unsuccessful in reaching the patient, they will be marked as recovered 14 days after symptom onset unless they have been admitted to the hospital or are deceased."
Dillaha said staffing remains an issue at many Arkansas hospitals.
"I'm hearing that staffing is an issue in the state overall," she said. "Of course, we are competing with other states for staff. Other states are also experiencing high rates of hospitalizations."
Dillaha said Arkansas has received a "relatively small" amount of coronavirus vaccine.
"The availability of vaccines has been less than we would like for the state of Arkansas," she said. "I think the manufacturers have had some challenges manufacturing the number of doses that they would like. I understand they've had some difficulty acquiring the raw materials they need to make the vaccine."
Gavin Lesnick, a spokesman for the Health Department, said Arkansas has received 124,325 does of covid-19 vaccine. That doesn't include vaccine that was distributed nationally to Walgreens and CVS pharmacy chains.
"There's more coming this next week," he said Saturday.
Dillaha said she's concerned that some people are deciding not to take the vaccine.
"It appears that many people question the safety of the vaccine because they wrongly believe that there were steps omitted in the safety and efficacy studies," she said. "No steps were omitted. I would strongly encourage people to take the Pfizer vaccine, anyone who's at least 16 years of age and older, and the Moderna vaccine, those who are 18 years and older, when it's their turn, of course."
Currently, health care workers and people living in long-term-care facilities are being vaccinated for covid-19 in Arkansas.
Dillaha said people can go to the websites of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, fda.gov, or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, cdc.gov, for accurate information about the vaccines.
Also on Saturday, Hutchinson tweeted: "If you've recovered from covid-19, your neighbors need your help. You can donate convalescent plasma, which is being used to treat covid-19 patients. Check with Arkansas Blood Institute & Arkansas Red Cross."
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State again at new high for virus hospitalizations - Arkansas Online
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