The Arkansas Department of Health reported 13 new COVID-19 cases in Union County Sunday, bringing the cumulative total of cases identified in the state to 2,785. The cases in the county included 2,173 confirmed cases, up 14 from Saturday, and 612 probable cases, down one from Sunday. An ADH spokesperson previously said the number of cases may drop because the person who tested positive was found to reside in another county.
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 fell to 308, a decrease of nine from Saturday; they represented 11.1% of all the cases identified in the county and included 268 confirmed cases and 40 probable cases. There were 2,401 Union County residents considered recovered from the virus Sunday, up 22 from Saturday.
The Arkansas Center for Health Improvement published school district-level COVID data updated through Jan. 4 last week. The data includes all the cases identified in a school district’s catchment area, so isn’t limited to staff, faculty or student cases.
According to the ACHI, as of Jan. 4, 1,474 COVID-19 cases had been identified in the El Dorado School District’s catchment area, including 192 new in the last two weeks; 217 cases had been identified in the Junction City School District’s catchment area, including 24 new in the last two weeks; 149 cases had been identified in the Parkers Chapel School District’s catchment area, including 33 new in the last two weeks; 388 cases had been identified in the Smackover-Norphlet School District’s catchment area, including 50 new in the last two weeks; and 188 cases had been identified int the Strong-Huttig School district’s catchment area, including 16 new in the last two weeks.
Additionally, the ACHI reported a two-week new known infection rate of 76 new cases per every 10,000 residents in the ESD’s catchment area; 71 new cases for every 10,000 residents in the PCSD’s catchment area; 84 new cases for every 10,000 residents in the SNSD’s catchment area; and 56 new cases for every 10,000 residents in the SHSD. The two-week testing rate in Union County as of Jan. 4 was 530 tests for every 10,000 residents.
No new local deaths resulting from COVID-19 were reported Sunday. Seventy-six Union County residents have died as a result of the virus. There were 240 people hospitalized for COVID Sunday in the Southwest hospital region of the state, where the county is located, including 91 in intensive care units and 41 on ventilator support.
The ADH reported 71 new negative test results returned from Union County Sunday. In all, 22,859 test results have returned from Union County, including 20,074 negatives, indicating an overall local positivity rate of 12.2%.
In Arkansas, the number of reported COVID-19 cases rose by 3,330 to reach 255,076 Sunday. The cases in the state included 207,749 confirmed cases, up 2,856 from Saturday, and 47,327 probable cases, up 474 from Saturday.
The number of active cases in the state fell by 330 Sunday to reach 27,492; they represented 10.8% of all the cases identified in the state and included 19,316 confirmed cases and 8,176 probable cases. The number of Arkansans considered recovered from the virus grew to 223,513, up 3,626 from Saturday.
The deaths of 33 Arkansans that resulted from COVID-19 were reported Sunday, bringing the state’s death toll to 4,043, indicating a state COVID mortality rate of 1.6%. There were 1,340 Arkansans hospitalized due to the virus Sunday, including 441 in ICUs and 237 on ventilator support.
The ADH reported 10,436 new COVID-19 test results returned Sunday, and 117,414 total tests performed so far in January. Since the state began testing for the virus, 2,478,813 results have returned to the ADH, including 2,215,149 negatives, indicating an overall positivity rate for the state of 10.3%.
Since Dec. 14, 2020, the state had received 228,075 doses of the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines, 81,277 of which have been administered, according to the ADH.
At 6:30 p.m. Sunday, Johns Hopkins University reported 22,374,351 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. By Sunday evening, 374,002 deaths attributable to the virus had been reported in the U.S., indicating a global COVID mortality rate of 1.7%.
Johns Hopkins reported 90,180,310 COVID-19 cases worldwide Sunday evening. There were 49,948,772 people considered recovered from the virus then, leaving 38,298,590 cases — 42.5% — active around the world. There had been 1,932,948 deaths attributable to the virus reported by Sunday evening, indicating a global COVID mortality rate of 2.1%.