COVID-19 cases in Union County continued to rise Friday as a record 95 new cases were reported by the Arkansas Department of Health, bringing the cumulative total of local cases to 2,523. The cases in the county included 1,952 confirmed cases, up 89 from Thursday, and 571 probable cases, up six from Thursday.
Confirmed cases are determined by positive PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests, while probable cases are determined by positive antigen tests, per distinctions made by the United States Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
The number of active cases rose to a new high Friday, increasing by 68 cases to reach 354 total; they represented 14% of all the cases identified locally and included 303 confirmed cases and 51 probable cases. There were 2,096 Union County residents considered recovered from the virus Friday, up 27 from Thursday.
No new local deaths that resulted from COVID-19 were reported Friday. Seventy-three Union County residents have died as a result of the virus. There were 193 people hospitalized, including 79 in intensive care units and 33 on ventilator support, in the Southwest hospital region of the state, where Union County sits, on Friday.
The ADH reported 287 new negative COVID-19 test results returned from Union County Thursday, indicating a one-day local positivity rate of 24.9% based on the number of new cases and results reported. In all, 21,264 COVID-19 test results have returned from Union County, including 18,741 negatives, indicating an overall local positivity rate of 11.9%.
A record 4,304 COVID-19 cases were reported in Arkansas Friday, bringing the cumulative total of cases to 229,442. The cases in the state included 189,569 confirmed cases, up 2,785 from Thursday, and 39,873 probable cases, up 1,519 from Thursday.
Active cases increased by 1,741 to reach a new high of 23,930 Friday; they represented 10.4% of all the cases in the state and included 16,739 confirmed cases and 7,191 probable cases. There were 201,774 Arkansans considered recovered from the virus Friday, up 2,527 from Thursday.
The deaths of 35 Arkansans that resulted from COVID-19 were reported Friday, bringing the state’s death toll to 3,711, indicating a state COVID mortality rate of 1.6%. There were 1,185 Arkansans hospitalized due to the virus Friday, including 398 in ICUs and 205 on ventilator support.
The ADH reported 14,485 new COVID-19 test results returned Friday, indicating a one-day positivity rate for the state of 29.7% based on the number of new cases and results reported. Since the state began testing for the virus, 2,317,995 results have returned to the ADH, including 2,080,974 negatives, indicating an overall positivity rate for the state of 9.9%.
At 4:30 p.m. Friday, Johns Hopkins University reported 20,085,408 COVID-19 cases in the United States. Data wasn’t available on the number of U.S. residents considered recovered from the virus or the number of active cases in the U.S. By Friday afternoon, 347,202 deaths attributable to the virus had been reported in the U.S., indicating a national COVID mortality rate of 1.7%.
Johns Hopkins reported 83,832,334 COVID-19 cases worldwide Friday afternoon. There were 47,226,487 people considered recovered from the virus then, leaving 34,781,257 cases — 41.5% — active around the world. There had been 1,824,590 deaths attributable to the virus reported by Friday afternoon, indicating a global COVID mortality rate of 2.2%.