The Arkansas Department of Health reported five new confirmed COVID-19 cases in Union County Friday, bringing the cumulative number of cases in the county to 350.
Local recoveries increased by six between Thursday and Friday to reach 276, according to the ADH. Active cases correspondingly dropped by one to 59, representing 16.85% of the cumulative number of cases.
According to a congregate living settings report produced each week day by the ADH, the two worker cases at Advanced Health and Rehab of Union County, which were all of the COVID-19 cases that had been identified at the facility, were considered recovered as of Friday.
No other changes at any of the congregate living facilities in the county where the virus has been identified were reported. There remains one active resident case at Courtyard Healthcare and Rehabilitation; three worker cases at Timberlane Health and Rehab; and one worker case at Community Living Arrangements.
The five active cases within congregate living facilities in Union County make up 8.47% of active cases in the county. In total, 79 COVID-19 cases have been identified in congregate facilities, making up 22.57% of the cumulative number of cases that have been identified locally.
No new local deaths attributable to COVID-19 were reported Friday. On Thursday, the ADH reported the 15th death of a Union County resident resulting from the virus.
The ADH reported 29 new negative test results returned from Union County Friday, indicating a one-day local positivity rate of 14.07% based on the number of new test results and cases reported. In all, results for 4,046 tests performed on Union County residents have returned to the ADH, with 3,696 negatives, indicating an overall local positivity rate of 8.65%.
The cumulative number of COVID-19 cases in Arkansas grew by 990 Friday to reach 37,249, marking the third-highest one-day increase in cases the state has seen yet. Of those, 29,827 cases were considered recovered Friday, leaving 7,028 cases — 28.86% — active statewide.
The deaths of eight Arkansans resulting from COVID-19 were reported Friday, bringing the state’s death toll to 394, indicating a state COVID mortality rate of 1.05%. The number of Arkansans hospitalized due to COVID-19 reached its highest level yet Friday at 497, an increase of 17 from Thursday. The number of those on ventilator support also increased by two to reach 109.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Friday that 8,015 COVID-19 tests had been “conducted” in the 24 hour period preceding his daily COVID-19 update Friday. According to the ADH’s online COVID-19 dashboard, 7,780 tests had been reported to the ADH since Thursday, indicating a one-day positivity rate based on the number of results reported and new cases of 12.72%.
Since the state began testing for COVID-19, 461,464 tests have been reported to the ADH, with 424,215 negatives, indicating an overall positivity rate for the state of 8.07%.
Hutchinson noted that most of the tests reported Friday came from commercial labs, which in the past few weeks have reported fewer results than they did prior to the Fourth of July weekend.
He also asked that Arkansas residents be mindful of public health over the weekend.
“900 cases is too high; we need to reduce that so we can continue to make progress,” Hutchinson said. “Follow all the guidelines, wear your mask, make sure that you socially distance if you go outside. Just be careful, because it’s backyard barbecues, it’s the swim parties, it’s the other things that were not careful in; so I’m asking all Arkansans to be particularly careful this weekend.”
Dr. Jose Romero, interim ADH Secretary, echoed Hutchinson’s statement.
“We have an opportunity to change the curve … We can drive this down. We can see, possibly, results as early as two weeks from now,” Romero said. “I encourage all our citizens to engage in using their masks and engage in social distancing … The weekend is here, but it’s not the old weekend. We need to keep these things in mind.”
According to Johns Hopkins University, there were 4,097,270 COVID-19 cases in the United States at 5 p.m. Friday. Of those, 1,233,269 were considered recovered, leaving 2,709,817 cases — 66.13% — active nationwide. There had been 145,184 deaths attributable to the virus in the U.S. by Friday afternoon, indicating a national COVID mortality rate of 3.54%.
Johns Hopkins reported 15,649,261 COVID-19 cases worldwide Friday afternoon. Of those, 8,923,575 were considered recovered, leaving 6,088,934 cases — 38.9% — active around the world. There had been 636,752 deaths attributable to the virus by Friday afternoon, indicating a global COVID mortality rate of 4.06%.