Cases of COVID-19 in Arkansas increased by 274 since Monday, bringing the total to 13,191 cases since the pandemic began, according to Gov. Asa Hutchinson in his daily briefing held Tuesday in Hot Springs.

Hospitalizations increased by eight for a total of 214, and six Arkansans have died since Monday bringing the toll to 188. A chart that showed hospitalizations around the state indicated 75 people are hospitalized in Northwest Arkansas, the highest number of any region in the state.

 

There were 4,175 tests conducted in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of tests to over 208,000.

The governor did not provide a breakdown of the new cases by region at Tuesday’s briefing.

Cases by Age Group

Doctor Jennifer Dillaha provided an update on the COVID-19 cases in the state by age group.

Dillaha said that 1,357 (10%) came from the 0-17 age group, 1,469 (11%) came from the 18-24 age group, 5,012 (38%) came from the adults aged 25-44 group, 3,840 (29%) came from the 45-64 age group, and 1,512 (11.5%) came from the 65+ group.

Of the 188 deaths in the state, 134 were from the 65+ age group (for about 70%), and 54 (29%) are from people aged 19-64, she said.

Dillaha said the increased risk of death for older adults with the virus makes the initiative to test nursing home residents and staff that much more important.

Testing in nursing homes

The governor provided an update on his goal of testing every nursing home resident and nursing home staff member in the state during the month of June.

He said the state had tested over 13,000 people as of Saturday, for a total of 150 out of around 400 facilities. Of those, 113 people have tested positive, for a positivity rate of 0.9%.

The governor maintained that the state is on track to meet its goal.

 

Unemployment update

Secretary of Commerce Mike Preston said the state is experiencing a “leveling off” of unemployment claims.

“We’ve seen the continued claims continue to drop down week-over-week consecutively for four weeks,” he said.

Preston said the claims have dropped from a high of about 122,000 to 106,000 as of last week.

He said 32,000 people are currently receiving pandemic assistance in the state.

Preston also said requirements to seek employment that had been waived when the pandemic began will be reinstated during the week of June 28-July 4 for those receiving assistance.