The Arkansas Department of Health reported 26 new COVID-19 cases in Union County Tuesday, raising the cumulative total of cases identified locally up to 3,363. The cases in the county included 2,597 confirmed cases, up 14 from Monday, and 766 probable cases, up 12 from Monday.
The United States Centers for Disease Control considers positive results from PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests to be confirmed cases and positive results from antigen (rapid) tests to be probable cases.
Active cases in the county grew to 198, up 10 from Monday; they represented 5.9% of all the cases identified locally and included 158 confirmed cases and 40 probable cases. There were 3,073 Union County residents considered recovered from the virus Tuesday, up 16 from Monday.
No new local deaths caused by COVID-19 were reported Tuesday. Ninety-two Union County residents have died as a result of the virus. There were 147 people hospitalized Tuesday due to the virus in the Southwest hospital region of the state, where Union County is located, including 51 in intensive care units and 31 on ventilator support.
The ADH reported 178 new negative COVID-19 test results returned from Union County Tuesday. In all, 27,204 new COVID-19 test results have returned from Union County, including 23,841 negatives, indicating an overall local positivity rate of 12.4%.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson reported Tuesday during his weekly COVID update that 1,510 new COVID-19 cases were identified in Arkansas Tuesday, bringing the cumulative total of cases identified in the state to 298,004. The cases in the state Tuesday included 237,333 confirmed cases, up 793 from Monday, and 60,671 probable cases, up 717 from Monday.
Hutchinson began Tuesday’s press conference with an update on the state’s revenues for 2020. He said there was a surplus over the forecasted revenues of over $400 billion.
“This means people are returning to work and showing hope in the economy and it is my hope and expectation that our economy will continue to be robust in the coming months as well,” he said.
The governor took the opportunity to address President Joe Biden and the United States Congress regarding their efforts to write additional COVID relief legislation, urging the parties to decrease the expected $1.9 trillion price tag on potential relief in light of the economic news.
“I would urge the White House and Congress to compromise as they consider the COVID relief package that begins at $1.9 trillion. That’s because the economy is expected to grow this year at 3.5% and we’re going to recover from the slow-down in the economy because of COVID without that … massive infusion of money,” he said. “My encouragement is not just to go big but to go reasonable.”
Arkansas Department of Commerce Secretary Mike Preston provided an update Tuesday on Pandemic Unemployment Assistance. He said the state has updated the online application portal for PUA to reflect requirements outlined in a second federal COVID relief package passed in December; the updates went live on Jan. 29, he said, and payments have already started to be sent out.
“The good news is on that first weekend we sent over 4,900 payments; additionally, last night, we had over 9,800 payments,” Preston said. “We anticipate more going out today and more over the next few days.”
Preston noted that those with a fraud notice attached to their PUA claims must file a police report and submit it to the Arkansas Division of Workforce Services to be re-considered for the assistance. More information is available at dws.arkansas.gov.
Hutchinson said Tuesday that he’d spoken with federal officials about vaccine distribution in Arkansas and had been informed that starting next week, the state would be allocated an additional 5% of vaccine supplies on top of a 16% increase announced last week.
“We’ve been assured that that supply chain will be good for three weeks for our planning purposes,” he said.
Approximately 318,408 doses of the Pfizer and Moderna COVID vaccines have been administered in Arkansas, and the state has received a total of 535,900 doses. Hutchinson said some of the gap between doses delivered and doses administered is due to the state holding second doses for those who have received their first shot.
“We’re doing well, but we have to do better because lives are at stake,” Hutchinson said of vaccination efforts.
ADH Secretary Dr. Jose Romero stressed the efficacy and safety of both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.
“When offered, I encourage you to take them. We are only going to be able to get past this pandemic if we have enough immunity,” Romero said. “I want to reinforce that it’s safe, it’s been studied — it’s been studied across all groups — and it is effective. All of the major vaccines prevent death in 100% of cases (and) they decreasing hospitalizations significantly, so these are very effective vaccines.”
He also highlighted new variants of the COVID-19 virus that have demonstrated greater transmissibility and resistance to treatments developed for the original virus strain.
“They are here. We don’t know that we have them yet here in Arkansas — I suspect they are, we just need to find them — but once they take hold, they will become the dominant virus in our community,” he said. “They spread easier and have some changes that allow them not to be responding appropriately to therapy.”
He noted that the most effective way to prevent continued spread of either the original or variant COVID-19 viruses will be to continue wearing face masks, washing one’s hands and social distancing.
“Even though we are making improvements, it’s not a time to back off on the three things we think are most important for physical mitigation of the infection and that is wearing the mask, washing our hands and keeping the distance. That is really what’s going to bring this under control and really is what’s going to help us with the variants,” Romero said.
Hutchinson highlighted several metrics measured by the ADH of the virus’ spread in Arkansas, including new cases, hospitalizations, the number of active cases and the seven-day test positivity rate, all of which were trending down as of Tuesday. He announced that he will not be extending a state mandate requiring bars to close at 11 p.m. that is scheduled to expire today.
“That was important to have through Christmas and New Years. Our cases and hospitalizations are down, and so I’ve made that judgment,” he said.
Dr. Ivy Pfeffer, deputy commissioner for the Arkansas Department of Education, also clarified Tuesday that students in school will still undergo state testing this year in order to allow legislators, educators and parents to get an idea of how much children have learned this school year. She said the ADE would support legislation to limit the A to F grading scale this school year.
“It’s critical that we make the most out of every learning opportunity over the next few months,” she said.
The number of active COVID-19 cases in Arkansas dropped by 334 Tuesday to reach 16,331; they represented 5.5% of all the cases identified in the state and included 11,371 confirmed cases and 4,960 probable cases. There were 276,704 Arkansans considered recovered from the virus Tuesday, up 1,800 from Monday.
The deaths of 44 Arkansans that resulted from COVID-19 were reported Tuesday, bringing the state’s death toll to 4,939, indicating a state COVID mortality rate of 1.7%.
“I asked Dr. Romero ‘when’s this going to slow down?’ because we see our cases slow down,” Hutchinson said. “That’s the saddest thing, is I look at that number every day and I continue to see Arkansans, families, impacted in such a devastating way because of COVID-19 and it’s a constant reminder that we all have a responsibility and it’s important to our families to follow the guidelines, be careful and do everything we can to limit the cases.”
There were 869 Arkansans hospitalized Tuesday due to the virus, including 260 in ICUs and 141 on ventilator support.
The ADH reported 7,224 new COVID-19 test results returned on Feb. 1. Since the state began testing for the virus, 2,817,794 results have returned to the ADH, including 2,509,374 negatives, indicating an overall positivity rate for the state of 10.6%.
At 3 p.m. Tuesday, Johns Hopkins University reported 26,384,829 COVID-19 cases in the United States. Data wasn’t available then on the number of U.S. residents considered recovered or the number of active cases in the country. There had been 445,419 deaths attributable to the virus reported in the U.S. by Tuesday afternoon, indicating a national COVID mortality rate of 1.7%.
Johns Hopkins reported 103,684,249 COVID-19 cases worldwide Tuesday afternoon. There were 57,548,416 people considered recovered from the virus then, leaving 43,888,989 cases — 42.3% — active around the world. There had been 2,246,844 deaths attributable to the virus reported by Tuesday afternoon, indicating a global COVID mortality rate of 2.2%.