EDITOR'S NOTE: As a service to our readers, The Sentinel-Record publishes updates released each weekday by the city of Hot Springs and the state of Arkansas.
The following stats were shared Wednesday at Gov. Asa Hutchinson's daily COVID-19 news conference in Little Rock and posted on the Arkansas Department of Health website:
• 46,293 cumulative infections, up 912 from Tuesday.
• 539,101 test reports, up 5,202 from Tuesday.
• 8.6% infection rate, up from 8.5% Tuesday.
• 6,957 active cases, up 66 from Tuesday.
• 38,848 recoveries, up 848 from Tuesday.
• 516 hospitalizations, down 10 from Tuesday.
• 106 cases on a ventilator, up five from Tuesday.
• 1,410 cumulative nursing home residents infected, up 69 from Tuesday.
• 910 cumulative infections in Garland County, up 31 from Tuesday.
• 14,179 test reports for Garland County, up 227 from Tuesday.
• 6.4% infection rate, up from 6.3% Tuesday.
• 209 active cases in Garland County, up 12 from Tuesday.
• 693 recoveries in Garland County, up 19 from Tuesday.
• Eight deaths in Garland County, no change from Tuesday.
The state said questions parents and students have about the upcoming school year can be directed to the Ready for School Resource Call Center. The phone lines at 833-353-6050 are open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Secretary of Education Johnny Key said school districts will have to make on-site instruction available five days a week. He said the suspension of standardized testing the state's teacher's association requested is not within the state's purview.
"Standardized tests are a federal government requirement," he said. "They have not issued any waiver for that. In Arkansas, we intend to follow the law. If we don't, we put our federal dollars at risk, and that's not good for our students."
He said closing a school with high levels of infection would be a collaborative decision between the superintendent and departments of Health and Education and based on the three-tiered response system the state established last month.
The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences' latest short-term predictive model forecast 55,000 cumulative infections and 543 deaths by Aug. 15. Hutchinson said actual infections and deaths need to trace a flatter curve than what UAMS has modeled.
"The model we want to follow has to be less than that, and we'll be able to measure ourselves over the next few days from that," he said. "I look at those projections, and I say let's do what we can to beat those projections and make sure that doesn't become a reality on the ground."
Hutchinson said the 912 new cases reported Wednesday, the most since the 990 reported July 24, included 158 from the Delta Regional Unit of the Arkansas Department of Correction in the southeast corner of the state.
"We're fairly flat with community cases," he said.
Wednesday's reported cases raised the rolling seven-day average of new cases for a second-straight day, pushing it to 760.71. Wednesday's average was 6.9% lower than Friday's peak of 817.43.
Hutchinson said the state plans to test all of the roughly 16,000 inmates in the state prison system by the end of the month. Testing has been completed in 10 of 19 facilities. According to Wednesday's nursing homes and congregate settings report, more than 5,000 inmates in county, state and federal correctional facilities in Arkansan have tested positive for the virus.
The total included 1,253 from ADC's Ouachita River Unit in Malvern. The 14 inmate deaths reported there make it the second deadliest congregate setting, trailing only the 16 deaths reported at the Waters of White Hall nursing home in Jefferson County.
Hutchinson said he's activated 10 members of the Arkansas National Guard to assist in the testing of state inmates.
Eight infected residents at Shalom Recovery Center on East Grand Avenue were listed on Monday's report. No new cases have been reported at the inpatient drug and alcohol rehab.
The 31 new cases reported Wednesday in Garland County raised its rolling seven-day average for the first time since Friday, pushing it to 25, or 16.7% lower than Friday's peak of 30. The average included two days of single-digit cases, with the four reported Tuesday being the fewest since July 9, and the single-day high of 51 reported July 30. The 49 test reports added to the county's total Tuesday were the fewest since July 9.
The 197 active cases reported Tuesday marked the first time active infections were fewer than 200 since July 22, but Wednesday's cases pushed the active count to 209. Wednesday's actives were 14.3% lower than Friday's peak of 244.
Wednesday's cases also increased the county's cumulative infection rate for the 19th time in 22 days. Positive tests as a proportion of total tests has doubled since mid June.