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 or updating its stats on the weekend. The following stats were posted Wednesday on the Health Department's website:
• 368,466 cumulative cases, up 1,495 from Tuesday.
• 1,172.57 rolling seven-day average of new cases, up 21.47 from Tuesday.
• 3,232,970 PCR test reports, up 8,805 from Tuesday.
• 8.8% cumulative PCR infection rate, no change from Tuesday.
• 11,903 active cases, up 428 from Tuesday.
• 350,455 recoveries, up 1,016 from Tuesday.
• 2,763,160 vaccine doses received, no change from Tuesday.
• 2,246,166 doses given, up 9,833 from Tuesday.
• 848 hospitalizations, up 33 from Tuesday.
• 156 cases on a ventilator, up 25 from Tuesday.
• 334 ICU admissions, up 21 from Tuesday.
• 6,020 deaths, up 13 from Tuesday.
• 2,094 nursing home deaths, down one from Tuesday.
• 11,272 cumulative cases in Garland County, up 38 from Tuesday.
• 36.14 rolling seven-day average of new confirmed cases, down five from Tuesday.
• 125,785 PCR and antigen test reports, up 473 from Tuesday.
• 8.8% cumulative PCR infection rate, no change from Tuesday.
• 375 active cases in Garland County, down three from Tuesday.
• 10,629 recoveries in Garland County, up 41 from Tuesday.
• 268 deaths, no change from Tuesday.
Life expectancy fell 1.5 years in 2020, according to provisional life expectancy estimates the National Center for Health Statistics released Wednesday.
"Mortality due to COVID-19 had, by far, the single greatest effect on the decline in life expectancy at birth between 2019 and 2020," the NCHS said.
Americans' life expectancy at birth was 77.3 years last year, down from 78.8 in 2019. The drop marked the largest one-year decline since World War II, when life expectancy fell 2.9 years between 1942 and 1943.
Hispanic American's life expectancy dropped by three years, from 81.8 to 78.8 years. Life expectancy for non-Hispanic Black Americans fell by 2.9 years, from 74.7 to 71.8. COVID-19 contributed to 90% of the decline in life expectancy among Hispanics, 68% among whites and 59% among Black Americans.
The Health Department reported more than 4,500 COVID-19 deaths in Arkansas last year.