There were 42 new COVID-19 cases reported in Union County Thursday, making 2,667 total cases identified in the county. The number of confirmed cases increased by 36 to reach 2,065, and probable cases grew to 602, up six from Wednesday.
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 fell on Thursday to 279, down six from Wednesday; they represented 10.5% of all the cases identified in the county and included 237 confirmed cases and 42 probable cases. The number of Union County residents considered recovered from the virus grew to 2,314, an increase of 48 since Wednesday.
No new local deaths attributable to COVID-19 were reported Thursday. Seventy-four Union County residents have died as a result of the virus, including one Wednesday. There were 234 people hospitalized due to the virus Thursday in the Southwest hospital region of the state, where Union County is located, including 75 in intensive care units and 38 on ventilator support.
The ADH reported 173 new negative test results returned from Union County Thursday. In all, 22,092 COVID-19 test results have returned from the county, including 19,425 negatives, indicating an overall local positivity rate of 12.1%.
Arkansas added 3,323 new COVID-19 cases Thursday to its cumulative total, which reached 245,916. The cases in the state included 200,531 confirmed cases, up 2,277 from Wednesday, and 45,385 probable cases, up 1,046 from Wednesday.
The deaths of 25 Arkansans that resulted from COVID-19 were reported Thursday, bringing the state’s COVID death toll to 3,926, indicating a state COVID mortality rate of 1.6%. There were 1,326 Arkansans hospitalized due to the virus Thursday, including 427 in ICUs and 218 on ventilator support.
Active cases in the state rose by 892 Thursday to reach a record 25,984; they represented 10.6% of all the cases in the state and included 17,517 confirmed cases and 8,467 probable cases. The number of Arkansas considered recovered grew by 2,406 to reach 215,980 Thursday.
The ADH reported 15,309 new COVID-19 test results returned Thursday and 71,874 total tests performed so far in January. Since the state began testing for the virus, 2,404,053 results have returned to the ADH, including 2,149,933 negatives, indicating an overall positivity rate for the state of 10.2%.
At 3:30 p.m. Thursday, Johns Hopkins University reported 21,468,084 COVID-19 cases in the United States. Data wasn’t available then on the number of U.S. residents considered recovered from the virus or the number of active cases in the States. There had been 363,519 deaths attributable to the virus reported in the U.S. by Thursday afternoon, indicating a national COVID mortality rate of 1.7%.
Johns Hopkins reported 87,736,230 COVID-19 cases worldwide Thursday afternoon. There were 48,997,738 people considered recovered from the virus then, leaving 36,846,236 cases — 42% — active around the world. There had been 1,892,256 deaths attributable to the virus reported by Thursday afternoon, indicating a global COVID mortality rate of 2.2%.