Eleven Union County residents have died as a result of COVID-19 as of Thursday evening, according to the Arkansas Department of Health, marking the third local death attributable to the virus in as many days.
Two new COVID-19 cases were identified between Wednesday and Thursday, making 179 cumulative cases in the county. Active cases, however, decreased by four to 24 — 13.4% — while 144 local residents have reportedly recovered from the virus.
The ADH reported Thursday that 1,043 negative tests had returned for Union County, which indicates an overall positivity rate locally of 14.6%. The local mortality rate is 6.1%.
In the state as a whole, 358 new cases were identified between Wednesday and Thursday, with the majority being found in Northwest Arkansas residents; 8,425 COVID-19 cases have been identified in the state altogether.
Nine more Arkansans’ deaths were reported Thursday, bringing the statewide death toll to 151, indicating a mortality rate in Arkansas of 1.8%.
Due to the large increase of cases seen in the past week, Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced Wednesday he was reconsidering moving the state into ‘Phase 2’ of its reopening, where some restrictions on business capacity and gatherings will been lifted.
On Thursday, he said he is considering moving into Phase 2 with a regional approach. He has previously said he preferred a statewide reopening since different regions of the state interact with one another to conduct business; however, in light of the new cases and the high concentration of those cases in some regions, in particular Northwest and, to a lesser extent, Southwest Arkansas, he said “you’ve got to at least consider” a regional approach.
Hutchinson said he would announce his decision on Phase 2 next week.
Almost 150,000 COVID-19 tests had been performed in Arkansas by Thursday afternoon. The statewide positivity rate is 5.7%, according to data from the ADH.
The United States had reached 1,870,156 COVID-19 cases by Thursday afternoon. Of those, 485,002 are considered recovered, while 108,051 Americans have died as a result of the virus, leaving 1,277,103 cases active nationwide. The national mortality rate is 5.7%.
The World Health Organization reported 6,416,828 COVID-19 cases worldwide Thursday afternoon, with 382,867 deaths attributable to the virus, indicating a global mortality rate of 5.9%.