As a service to our readers, The Sentinel-Record publishes updates released by the city of Hot Springs and the state of Arkansas.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson held his weekly press update Tuesday at the state Capitol. The following stats were posted Tuesday on the Arkansas Department of Health website:
• 250,266 cumulative confirmed cases, up 419 from Monday.
• 260.14 rolling seven-day average of new confirmed cases, up 46.43 from Monday.
• 2,609,837 PCR test reports, up 4,779 from Monday.
• 9.6% cumulative PCR infection rate, no change from Monday.
• 794,230 vaccine doses received, up 102,705 from Monday.
• 500,914 doses given, up 13,702 from Monday.
• 66,327 cumulative probable cases, up 415 from Monday.
• 17.8% cumulative antigen infection rate, down from 18.0% Monday.
• 4,807 active confirmed and probable cases, down 92 from Monday.
• 306,382 recoveries of confirmed and probable cases, up 912 from Monday.
• 545 hospitalizations, down 43 from Monday.
• 99 cases on a ventilator, down 10 from Monday.
• 204 ICU cases, down 21 from Monday.
• 4,321 confirmed deaths, up 10 from Monday.
• 1,056 probable deaths, up four from Monday.
• 2,015 nursing home deaths, up five from Monday.
• 8,077 cumulative confirmed cases in Garland County, up 22 from Monday.
• 23.43 rolling seven-day average of new confirmed cases, up 2.29 from Monday.
• 94,721 PCR and antigen test reports, up 263 from Monday.
• 70,516 private lab reports, up 260 from Monday.
• 24,205 public lab reports, up three from Monday.
• 9.8% cumulative PCR infection rate, no change from Monday.
• 213 active confirmed cases in Garland County, down 21 from Monday.
• 7,673 recoveries of confirmed cases in Garland County, up 43 from Monday.
• 1,459 cumulative probable cases in Garland County, up 17 from Monday.
• 51 active probable cases in Garland County, up four from Monday.
• 191 confirmed deaths, no change from Monday.
• 40 probable deaths, no change from Monday.
Hutchinson expanded vaccine eligibility Tuesday to people 65-69, an expansion he credited to increased vaccine availability.
He said the federal government guaranteed an additional 1 million doses for the per capita allocation to the states, an increase he said will give Arkansas an extra 4,000 doses a week. The National Retail Pharmacy Program was guaranteed an additional 100,000 doses, he said.
Increased supply and the emergency use authorization expected for Janssen Pharmaceutical's one-shot vaccine gave public health officials the confidence to expand eligibility to 115,000 Arkansans 65-69, he said.
"This would mean next week we could see another 2 million doses available nationwide, which would increase doses available in Arkansas," Hutchinson said of the Janssen vaccine, which is produced under the umbrella of Janssen's parent company, Johnson and Johnson. "Part of lowering this to 65 plus is looking ahead to the future as what we see as an increased supply."
Hutchinson said 14% of the more than 330,000 people in the 70 and older group have been fully vaccinated since they became eligible last month.
"I want everybody to bear in mind that everybody 70 and plus hasn't been vaccinated, because they haven't," he said. "We have largely vaccinated and made available, at least for the first dose, for our teachers. Our emergency workers have been vaccinated. Those in the nursing homes have been vaccinated. We've made swathes and progress in these different categories. There's always more to do in those categories, but it is time to move up to the 65 plus."
Hutchinson wouldn't commit to a date for expanding eligibility to the broader population. Building public confidence in vaccines will be the focus as the state makes them available to more people, he said, noting that Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield's Vaccinate the Natural State initiative will work toward that end.
The state's polymerase chain reaction-confirmed infection curve rose Tuesday for the first time in 13 days. Garland County's rose for the first time since Feb. 17. The 39 new confirmed and probable cases reported Tuesday in the county ranked fourth statewide.
The infection curve has fallen, but there hasn't been a corresponding drop in cumulative infection rates. Hutchinson acknowledged surveillance has dropped off in recent weeks, as demand for testing isn't as high as it was earlier in the winter.
"Testing has slowed down, because demand has been reduced," he said. "We're looking at creative ways with our resources to increase that testing. We'll see now that the snow has gone if that picks up."