Union County reached 10 deaths resulting from COVID-19 on Wednesday, according to the Arkansas Department of Health, which reported a fifth death at Courtyard Healthcare and Rehabilitation.
No new COVID-19 cases were reported at Courtyard, where 55 people — 35 residents and 20 workers — have tested positive in all. Two residents have reportedly recovered, and 11 workers have recovered, according to the ADH.
The ADH does not report on worker deaths in their nursing home reports; 14.3% of the residents who have contracted COVID-19 at Courtyard have died as a result of it.
One COVID-19 case has also been reported in a worker at Advanced Health and Rehab of Union County which is located at 1700 Short E. Hillsboro St. No new cases or recoveries have been reported for Community Living Arrangements, where nine residents and three workers have tested positive for COVID-19.
Four new COVID-19 cases were reported in Union County Wednesday, bringing the local cumulative number of cases to 177. Of those, 139 are considered recovered, while 28 — 15.8% — are still active.
Over 1,000 negative test results have been returned locally, according to the ADH; the county has an overall positivity rate of 15%.
Arkansas saw another large increase in COVID-19 cases between Tuesday and Wednesday, with the state’s cumulative cases growing by 249 to reach 8,067. Of the new cases, 245 were in the community, while four were found in prison inmates.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced Wednesday that ‘Phase 2’ of reopening the state has been put on hold in light of the spike in cases seen in recent weeks. One week ago, the ADH had reported 6,180 cases in Arkansas, so the new cases represent almost 2,000 identified in a seven-day period.
The state began reopening on May 4; on that date, 3,341 cases had been identified in Arkansas. Hutchinson has attributed some of the spike to increased testing in the state. Over 80,000 Arkansans were tested for COVID-19 in May, and Hutchinson has set goals to perform 120,000 tests and test every nursing home resident and worker in the state this month.
“I don’t think that would be appropriate to open up into Phase 2 until we have more data and have more confidence,” Hutchinson said Wednesday.
Six more Arkansans died as a result of COVID-19 between Tuesday and Wednesday, bringing the state’s death toll to 142, which indicates a statewide mortality rate of 1.7%.
Of all the cases in the state, 5,717 are considered recovered, while 2,208 — 27.3% — are still active.
Hospitalizations in the state are at their highest level yet at 138. ADH Secretary Dr. Nate Smith said hospitalizations have increased for the past four days.
The state’s overall positivity rate is 5.6%, with 142,480 negative tests returned since the pandemic hit Arkansas.
In the United States, COVID-19 cases increased by about 17,000 to 1,847,412; of those, 463,868 are considered recovered, while 107,023 have died, indicating a national mortality rate 5.7%. There are 1,276,521 cases — 69.1% — still active nationwide.
The World Health Organization reported 6,287,771 COVID-19 cases worldwide Wednesday at 6 p.m.; of those, 379,941 have died, indicated a global mortality rate of 6%.