As a service to our readers, The Sentinel-Record publishes updates released by the city of Hot Springs and the state of Arkansas.
The Arkansas Department of Health is no longer reporting confirmed and probable cases separately. The following stats were posted Friday on the Health Department's website:
• 355,460 cumulative cases, up 1,155 from Thursday.
• 697.29 rolling seven-day average of new cases, up 94.43 from Thursday.
• 8.7% cumulative PCR infection rate, no change from Thursday.
• 6,605 active cases, up 673 from Thursday.
• 342,833 recoveries, up 478 from Thursday.
• 2,724,040 vaccine doses received, no change from Thursday.
• 2,172,893 doses given, 5,170 from Thursday.
• 497 hospitalizations, up 16 from Thursday.
• 81 cases on a ventilator, down one from Thursday.
• 196 ICU admissions, no change from Thursday.
• 5,948 deaths, up four from Thursday.
• 2,093 nursing home deaths, no change from Thursday.
• 10,824 cumulative cases in Garland County, up 49 from Thursday.
• 32.57 rolling seven-day average, up 4.43 from Thursday.
• 122,292 test reports, up 216 from Thursday.
• 8.7% cumulative PCR infection rate, up from 8.6% Thursday.
• 271 active cases in Garland County, up 35 from Thursday.
• 10,288 recoveries in Garland County, up 15 from Thursday.
• 265 deaths, no change from Thursday.
The statewide infection curve has risen 47% in the last week as the Health Department reported 1,000 or more new cases for the third-straight day Friday.
The state had a 566.86 rolling seven-day average of new confirmed cases at this time last year, when the curve was ascending to its summer peak. The Health Department wasn't reporting probable cases last summer, so Friday's 697.29 moving average, which included probable cases, doesn't provide an exact comparison to last year's numbers. The Health Department stopped reporting confirmed and probable cases separately earlier this month.
Garland County's rolling seven-day average of new cases has risen 97% in the last week, with active cases rising 63% over that time.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson will continue to make the case for vaccines next week, taking his COVID Community Conversations Tour to Batesville, Blytheville, Forrest City and Texarkana, his office said Friday in a news release. Hutchinson has said improving the state's rate of vaccination, which lags the national average, before the 2021-22 school year starts in August is critical to tamping down the latest surge in cases.
While other states can make vaccination a condition of school enrollment once vaccines receive a full authorization from federal regulators, Hutchinson said Arkansas doesn't have that option. Act 977 the Legislature passed earlier this year prohibits making vaccination for COVID-19 a condition of education, employment, entry or services from the state or a state agency.
"Even once we get final approval for the COVID vaccine we're prohibited from mandating that in the school and making that a requirement," he said Friday in a national TV interview. "Maybe that's unique in Arkansas, but that's the will of the Legislature. That's why we have the responsibility of the parents and the schools to accomplish the same result."