Covid-19 hospitalizations in Arkansas are on the decline.
Statewide hospitalizations this week dropped to 303, the Arkansas Department of Health reported. It's the fifth week in a row that the count has decreased from a recent peak in late July.
Hospitalizations skyrocketed at the beginning of the year to reach a high of 1,819 in late January before slowly dropping to a low of 40 in early May. After that, admissions steadily increased for about a month before ramping even higher in June and then again in late July to 442, driven by BA.5, a version of the omicron variant. Since then, total admissions have dropped by an average of about 27 per week.
Covid-19 cases increased by 6,073 in this week's state report, which is down from the 6,289 cases reported over the previous seven-day period. The new cases, along with those reported since Tuesday, bring the total cumulative count in Arkansas to 927,072.
The number of cases in the state that were considered active this week was 10,678. That number was down 311 from the 10,989 active cases reported last week. As of Thursday, current active cases are up to 10,843.
State officials announced 40 new deaths in this week's report. The total number of Arkansans who have died as a result of the virus is now at 11,887.
