The Arkansas Department of Health reported two more COVID-19 deaths in Union County Thursday, including a second death at Courtyard Healthcare and Rehabilitation.
The ADH reported one new worker case and no new resident cases Thursday along with the second death at Couryard; 35 residents and 19 workers have reportedly tested positive with 54 cases found in the facility in all. Community Living Arrangements has not reported any new cases; nine residents and three workers have tested positive there, 12 in all.
In Union County, eight residents have now died as a result of COVID-19. The mortality rate grew as a result to 4.8%. Two additional cases were also identified by Thursday evening, bringing the county to 164 cases in all, 51 of which — 31% — are considered active, with 105 recoveries reported. Ten new tests had returned negative by Thursday.
In Arkansas, 261 new cases had been identified by Thursday evening, according to the ADH, marking the highest daily increase in community COVID-19 cases since the first case was discovered on March 11. In all, 6,538 COVID-19 cases have been confirmed in Arkansas, with 1,830 — 27.9% — considered active.
ADH Secretary Dr. Nate Smith said during a state COVID-19 update Thursday over 40% of the new cases were identified in Northwest Arkansas. Some are tied to workplace outbreaks, but many have been detected in young people, and the Latino community in that area has been the most hard hit, he said.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson said he would like to see more outreach toward the Latino and Spanish-speaking communities in the state and Smith said the state will continue to increase its testing capacity and hold testing drives, such as the one scheduled for June 6 in El Dorado. Almost 120,000 tests had been performed statewide by Thursday evening, with a positivity rate of 5.4%.
Five more Arkansans had died as a result of COVID-19 by Thursday as well, bringing the state’s death toll to 125, indicating a state mortality rate of 1.9%.
In the United States, the ADH 1,719,855 cumulative cases at 7 p.m. Thursday; of those, 399,991 had recovered and 101,562 had died, indicating a national mortality rate of 5.9%.
The World Health Organization reported 5,596,550 cases worldwide Thursday evening, with 353,373 deaths reported, indicating a global mortality rate of 6.3%. U.S. cases make up 30.7% of all cases worldwide; Arkansas accounts for .3% of all U.S. cases.
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