Gov. Asa Hutchinson reported 82 new cases at his daily COVID-19 press conference, bringing the total to 3,747 cumulative cases in the state. 12 of the new cases are from the Cummins Unit with the remaining being community cases. 896 inmates and 60 staff members have tested positive so far there.
However, only 691 of the cumulative cases are considered active with 471 in the community, 131 in the correctional facilities and 89 in nursing homes. 2,968 individuals have recovered from the virus. There are currently 64 hospitalized with 14 on a ventilator. The death toll remains the same at 88.
There are currently 48 nursing homes that have at least one COVID-19 case among residents or staff members. 270 residents and 160 staff members have tested positive so far for the virus.
Yesterday, 2,355 COVID-19 tests were conducted and the positivity rate was 2.1 percent. The overall positivity rate is 5.8 percent. The World Health Organization has set a positivity benchmark rate of 10 percent or lower.
Secretary of Health Dr. Nate Smith announced that overnight surgeries up to 48 hours will be allowed starting next Monday.
“We have previously limited those cases to American Society of Anesthesiologists ASA Category one and two. Now we will allow one, two and three. So we will allow patients with more complications or more health issues to also undergo elective procedures,” Smith said.
Cam Patterson, chancellor of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, joined Hutchinson at the press conference to give an update on testing efforts.
“UAMS has played a substantial role in that and, to date, UAMS has done over 6,000 COVID-19 PCR tests which is approximately 10 percent of the total number of tests that have been done across the state,” he said. “We anticipate that our overall contribution to testing across the state will remain consistent. I would say that our overall testing positivity rate of tests done at UAMS mirrors what we are seeing across the state substantially below 10 percent positivity test rates.”
The UAMS Mobile Triage Unit is also continuing to test in areas where resources may not be readily available. It has conducted approximately 1,200 COVID-19 tests. It will be back in Forrest City on Saturday for the fourth time and is scheduled to go to Dumas, Brinkley and Hot Springs.
“We are seeing low, single-digit positivity rates fairly consistently in the communities that we are visiting and that is good news for these communities.” Patterson said. “It indicates that we don’t have hot spots in the communities that we are visiting and it is unlikely that we are missing substantial populations where there are groups of positive patients.”
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