COVID-19 in Arkansas: Active cases drop for the first time in 20 days, hospitalizations climb – KARK

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. The number of active cases of COVID-19 in Arkansas dropped by more than 3,000 in new data released Monday, marking the first daily decline in active cases since December 26 of last year.

The new data from the Arkansas Department of Health showed that active cases fell by 3,068 to 93,311. Overall, the state saw 3,600 new cases reported in the last 24 hours, moving the number of cases reported during the pandemic to 684,776.

In a social media post, Gov. Asa Hutchinson attributed the drop in cases in part to a weekend decline in testing.

There were three more deaths added to the states count since the previous day, pushing the total to 9,437.

Hospitalizations saw an increase for the 18th day in a row, climbing by 35 patients to 1,420, while the number of patients on ventilators ticked up by four to 172.

Hutchinson used the increase in hospitalizations as a way to stress that Arkansans should seek out vaccinations. There were only 1,896 doses given in the past 24 hours. The number of Arkansans with full immunity rose to 1,528,481, while there are 370,688 people in the state with partial immunity.

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COVID-19 in Arkansas: Active cases drop for the first time in 20 days, hospitalizations climb - KARK