State virus cases climb 2,343; shots take flight

The number of covid-19 patients in Arkansas who were hospitalized and on ventilators continued rising Tuesday to levels not seen since January as the state count of cases rose by 2,343.

Meanwhile, the state Department of Health reported that the vaccine doses that had been administered rose by 30,756 — the third-largest increase in a single day since the department began reporting the vaccination numbers each day in January.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson said about 25,000 of the doses went to people who were starting the vaccination process.

“The demand has increased. I’m pleased with that,” Hutchinson said at a news conference at the state Capitol.

Since Jan. 1, he said, about 95% of state cases and hospitalizations and 97% of deaths from covid-19 had been among people who were not fully vaccinated.

“That tells the story of the added protection that comes with the vaccine,” he said.

Still, Arkansas this week missed the goal Hutchinson set on May 4 for 50% of residents to have at least one vaccine dose within 90 days.

At the time he set the goal, 36% of Arkansans had received at least one dose, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

As of Tuesday, 91 days

after the announcement, the percentage had grown to 47.4%.

Hutchinson and other officials have blamed the surge over the past several weeks on the fast-spreading delta variant and the state’s low vaccination rate.

Already at its highest level since Jan. 19, the number of people hospitalized in the state with covid-19 rose Tuesday by 30, to 1,250.

The number on ventilators rose by 10, to 260.

That was the largest number of covid-19 patients on the breathing machines, as reported each day by the Health Department, since the all-time high of 268 on Jan. 11.

The state death toll from the virus, as tracked by the department, rose by 16, to 6,215.

CHILDREN AFFECTED

With the start of the 202122 school year for most public schools approaching this month, Hutchinson called a special session of the Legislature that will start today to revisit a law that bars school districts from requiring students and employees to wear masks.

At the news conference Tuesday, Health Secretary Jose Romero said children made up almost 19% of the 19,738 cases in the state that were active as of Sunday.

Comparing infections of children in April with those July, he said new cases had risen 517%, hospitalizations had risen 270% and intensive care unit admissions had risen 275%.

According to the Health Department, the state had 7,253 new cases among children last month, up from 1,176 in April.

Children under age 12, who are not yet eligible to receive the vaccines, made up eight of the cases in April and 45 of the cases in July.

Among people age 18 and younger, hospitalizations rose from 21 in April to 77 in July, while intensive-care admissions rose from four in April to 15 in July.

In July, 45 of the hospitalizations and three of the intensive-care admissions were of children under age 12, according to the department.

“We have a group of individuals that are extremely susceptible to infection because they do not have eligibility for a vaccine,” Romero said.

Even among children 12 and older, he said only 32.2% had received at least one vaccine dose and just 18.4% were fully vaccinated.

Children should wear masks in school, and those who are eligible should get the vaccine and wear masks while in school.

“We do not have a mandate, but I clearly recommend this,” he said.

Education Secretary Johnny Key said schools have been preparing for the school year since “well before the end of last school year.”

He said the Department of Education worked with school districts over the summer to use federal funds to improve air circulation, purchase equipment and buy larger buses or ones with air conditioning.

“This year, because of the delta variant and the impact that it has that is definitely more weighted toward the younger population, we see a number of challenges but the strategies that we employed last year will continue to be effective,” he said.

That includes shifting to virtual instruction in some instances when outbreaks occur.

“The one tool that we have this year that we didn’t have last year is the vaccine, and we certainly do encourage our districts to think about how they can increase those numbers within the ages 12 and up,” he said.

STATE RANKINGS

Tuesday’s increase in cases was larger by 291 than the one the previous Tuesday.

As a result, the average daily increase in the state’s case count over a rolling seven-day period rose to 1,943, its highest level since Jan. 22.

With new cases outpacing recoveries, the number of cases in the state that were considered active rose by 577, to 19,499.

That was just short of the six-month high of 19,738, the number reached Sunday.

Rankings Tuesday from the CDC showed Arkansas as the state with the most new covid-19 deaths per capita during the week ending Monday.

Arkansas’ 122 deaths during the week, which included 42 that were reported Monday, translated to a rate of four per 100,000 residents.

Nevada had the next-highest rate, 2.6 per 100,000 residents, followed by Louisiana’s 2.4 deaths per 100,000 residents.

Health Department spokeswoman Danyelle McNeill said all of the deaths reported in Arkansas on Monday happened within the past month.

In new cases per capita during the week, Arkansas’ rate was the country’s third-highest, behind Louisiana and Florida.

Within Arkansas, Pulaski County had the most new cases Tuesday, 276, followed by Washington County with 189, and Benton County with 119.

The number of Arkansans who have ever been hospitalized with confirmed infections grew by 110, to 18,898.

The number who have ever been on ventilator with covid-19 rose by seven, to 1,914.

NURSING HOME CASES

According to a Health Department report, 94 nursing homes and assisted living facilities in the state as of Monday had had at least one new covid-19 case within the past two weeks.

The cases totaled 324, with the majority, 201, coming from afflicted staff members.

Twenty-one homes had five or more new cases.

Somerset Senior Living in Yellville had the most, 35, followed by Siloam Healthcare in Siloam Springs with 22, The Blossoms in Little Rock with 17, Providence PCC in Searcy with 10, and Good Samaritan Society in Hot Springs Village with nine.

“We know our communities are anxious about the rise of covid-19 cases related to the delta variant,” said Rachel E. Bunch, executive director of the Arkansas Health Care Association and Arkansas Assisted Living Association.

“Our staff is committed to protecting their residents and maintaining the appropriate policies and procedures put in place by the CDC and [Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services]. We are communicating regularly with our facility administrators, as well as the Arkansas Department of Health.”

Visitation policies kick in in response to positive cases and outbreaks, Bunch said.

“Thankfully … [outbreaks] are much fewer now than we saw back in the fall and winter,” she said. “The vast majority of homes remain open for visitation at this time, and those in outbreak testing will reopen as soon as they can.”

She said that while the state’s nursing homes vaccination rates for both patients and staff members “are the highest in the SEC,” the facilities are also mirroring community trends.

“Older people and their family members seem to be more interested in the vaccines, many younger people are more reluctant,” Bunch said. “Sometimes a new case from an employee can be someone who had a pre-screening test and didn’t actually have contact with patients. Many of our homes are also providing vaccines on-site for family members of both residents and employees.”

Some of the state’s nursing homes are requiring current or incoming staff members to be vaccinated while others are encouraging vaccination, Bunch said.

“Incentives vary from financial to paid time off, many are simply offering weekly calls with medical experts and/or the Arkansas Department of Health to provide information and allow questions or concerns to be discussed,” she said. “We have been connecting homes with various medical experts to answer specific questions and discuss concerns related to the vaccine.”

HUMAN DEVELOPMENT CENTERS

The state’s five human development centers, which house more than 800 people with developmental and other disabilities, had 35 active cases and 135 patients and staff members in quarantine as of Monday, according to a Department of Human Services report.

“With a variant this contagious we are concerned about the impact it will have on our clients and our workforce,” department spokeswoman Amy Webb said in an email.

“We are rigorously following Health Department guidelines at our facilities to try to keep it at bay.”

She said almost all of the facilities’ clients are vaccinated.

“And we continue to encourage our staff to get vaccinated as well. The statewide vaccination numbers for today are a hopeful sign,” Webb said.

Of the total cases, nine are among residents and 26 are among staff members. Those under quarantine comprise 123 residents and 12 staff members.

The Booneville Human Development Center, which is licensed for 138 residents, has the highest infection rate with 14 cases that include five residents and nine employees. The facility has 81 under quarantine, including 78 residents and three staff members.

The Conway Human Development Center, the largest of the five with 518 beds, has 13 cases including three residents and 10 employees. The facility has 30 under quarantine, including 26 residents and four employees.

The Arkadelphia facility, with 125 licensed beds, has three cases, all staff members. One resident is under quarantine.

The Southeast Arkansas Human Development Center in Warren, with 100 licensed beds, has three cases that include two employees and one resident. There are 20 under quarantine, including 17 residents and three employees.

The Jonesboro facility, with 109 licensed beds, has two cases, all staff members. There are two employees and one resident under quarantine.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, 572 residents and 640 staff members have tested positive for covid-19, and two residents and two staff members died.

PRISON CASES

The prison system has 144 active cases, Cindy Murphy, spokeswoman for the Arkansas Department of Corrections, said Tuesday.

Murphy said nine facilities have covid-19 cases.

According to a Health Department report Monday, the Ouachita River Unit in Malvern has the highest number of cases, with 62 inmates who tested positive in the past 14 days. No staff cases were reported for the facility.

The Omega Supervision Sanction Center in Malvern had 36 inmates test positive, but no staff members.

The McPherson Unit in Newport has seven positive inmates, and no staff positive tests.

All other facilities had three or fewer cases, according to the Health Department Report.

VACCINATION UPTICK

According to the CDC, the percentage of residents who have received at least one vaccine dose as of Tuesday was above 50% in two Arkansas counties: Desha, where it was 51.2%, and Pulaski, where it was 50.4%.

In 26 counties, the percentage had not yet risen above 36%, the rate for the state as a whole when Hutchinson set the goal of having 50% of residents with at least one vaccine dose by early August.

Still, the pace of vaccinations has recently been on the rise.

The increase Tuesday in the number of doses providers reported having administered, according to Health Department figures, was the largest since April 9.

The average number of doses administered each day over a rolling seven-day period rose to 12,197, its highest level since the week ending May 5.

According to the CDC, the percentage of Arkansans who had received at least one dose rose Tuesday to 47.4%, while the percentage who were fully vaccinated remained at about 36.6%.

Among the states and District of Columbia, Arkansas ranked 41st in the percentage of its residents who had received at least one vaccine dose and 49th, ahead of only Alabama and Mississippi, in the percentage who were fully vaccinated.

Nationally, 57.9% of people had received at least one vaccine dose, and 49.7% were fully vaccinated.

INCENTIVES DISTRIBUTED

Hutchinson announced in late May that Arkansans who received a vaccine dose May 26 or after would be eligible for one of two rewards: a $20 scratch-off lottery tickets or a pair of gift certificates for hunting and fishing licenses worth a total of $21.

McNeill said the number of people who had claimed one of the rewards as of Tuesday had more than doubled since July 26.

The number who had received a lottery ticket rose by 5,405, to 10,351, while the number who received a gift certificate rose by 2,392, to 4,393.

Scott Hardin, a spokesman for the state Department of Finance and Administration, said 2,602 people had cashed in winnings from one of the lottery tickets as of Monday, an increase of 597 compared with a week earlier.

So far, one person, a Texas man who had been visiting relatives in Arkansas, has won $1 million from one of the tickets.

The other winnings, in amounts ranging from $20 to $500, totaled $115,570 as of Monday, up from $89,110 a week earlier.

One more $1 million ticket remained in circulation in the game, known as the $1 Million Spectacular, along with one $50,000 prize and two $10,000 prizes.

People can claim the rewards at vaccination clinics organized by the Health Department or the Arkansas Foundation for Medical Care or by taking their vaccination cards to one of the department’s local health units.

Hutchinson said in May that the state was buying 50,000 lottery tickets and 50,000 pairs of gift certificates, and could buy more if the incentives proved effective.