Gov. Asa Hutchinson made several announcements today regarding changes in the state during the COVID-19 pandemic.
First, Hutchinson announced that an additional $7 million in grants will be used to expand high speed broadband across the state as part of a rural grant program.
Hutchinson also announced that, according to the White House state report, Arkansas’ color coded category has moved from red to yellow, showing a decrease in the rate of the state’s positivity for COVID-19. These categories are determined based on the number of cases per 100,000 people. Arkansas has shown improvement over time, as noted in the White House reports.
Arkansas Department of Health Secretary José Romero encouraged Arkansans to continue to get tested, warning them not to fall into “testing fatigue”.
Today’s positive cases have increased by 480, totalling 5,312 active cases, and 57,374 cases that are past and active. Hospitalizations have decreased by 24, totaling 442. Deaths have increased by 15, seven of which were from different nursing homes, and two which were data corrections added in form the previous month. This brings the death count to 711. The number of people on ventilators has not changed, staying steady at 108.
Pulaski County still has the most cases at 80, followed by Faulkner County at 41 cases, Sebastian County at 38 cases, and Saline County at 22 cases.
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