Case update: Arkansas coronavirus cases increase by 412

 

The number of known positive COVID-19 cases in Arkansas reached 53,077 on Monday, which is an increase of 412 since Sunday.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced the numbers during his coronavirus press briefing at the Governor’s Mansion in Little Rock.

It’s just the second time the daily case count has increased by less than 500 cases since early July. The state reported 383 new cases on Aug. 11, but has since averaged about 700 new cases each day.

“Clearly we have a downward trend over the last week to 10 days, but I’m not necessarily saying that will continue,” Hutchinson said.

Whether cases continue to decline all depends on the individual behavior of residents across the state, he said, including complying with the state’s mask mandate, practicing social distancing, and avoiding large gatherings where safety measures aren’t being practiced.

“I’m hoping it will continue, but I’m not in the predictive mode when it comes to the coronavirus,” said Hutchinson.

Hutchinson said 4,093 tests had been conducted in the past 24 hours. The state has so far reported 94,809 tests in August to put toward the governor’s goal of conducting 180,000 tests this month.

Of the new cases announced Monday, 12 are from correctional facilities and 400 are from the general community, said Secretary of Health Dr. Jose Romero.

Hospitalizations are up eight to 486, and patients on a ventilator remain unchanged at 120.

There were four new deaths, bringing the statewide toll to 603.

As of Monday, there are 6,341 active cases and 46,133 recoveries.

Romero said the state “cleaned up” its database over the weekend, which resulted in the removal of 1,251 cases that were determined to be either duplicates or people from out of the state. A single death was also removed from the state’s cumulative total after it was discovered that a person who died had received a false positive test result, meaning their death did not occur because of COVID-19.

» See all updates from previous days



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