As a service to our readers, The Sentinel-Record publishes updates released by the city of Hot Springs and the state of Arkansas.
The following stats were posted Tuesday on the Arkansas Department of Health's website:
• 266,726 cumulative confirmed cases, up 29 from Monday.
• 88 rolling seven-day average of new confirmed cases, down 22.86 from Monday.
• 3,056,091 PCR test reports, up 1,138 from Monday.
• 8.7% cumulative PCR infection rate, no change from Monday.
• 74,724 cumulative probable cases, up 40 from Monday.
• 14.5% cumulative antigen infection rate, no change from Monday.
• 333,962 recoveries of confirmed and probable cases, up 192 from Monday.
• 1,596 active confirmed and probable cases, down 125 from Monday.
• 2,622,010 vaccine doses received, no change from Monday.
• 1,980,990 doses given, up 1,525 from Monday.
• 201 hospitalizations, up one from Monday.
• 38 cases on a ventilator, no change from Monday.
• 88 ICU patients, down four from Monday.
• 4,628 confirmed deaths, no change from Monday.
• 1,206 probable deaths, up one from Monday.
• 2,091 nursing home deaths, no change from Monday.
• 8,670 cumulative confirmed cases in Garland County, no change from Monday.
• 2.86 rolling seven-day average of new confirmed cases, down 3.28 from Monday.
• 118,289 PCR and antigen test reports, up 74 from Monday.
• 90,144 private lab reports, up 73 from Monday.
• 28,145 public lab reports, up one from Monday.
• 8.5% cumulative PCR infection rate, no change from Monday.
• 46 active confirmed cases in Garland County, down five from Monday.
• 8,412 recoveries of confirmed cases in Garland County, up five from Monday.
• 1,658 cumulative probable cases in Garland County, up two from Monday.
• 26 active probable cases in Garland County, down one from Monday.
• 212 confirmed deaths, no change from Monday.
• 49 probable deaths, no change from Monday.
The 1,596 active confirmed and probable cases reported Tuesday were the fewest since the state began reporting probable cases late last summer.
Active confirmed and probable cases peaked on Jan. 9 at 27,882. They've fallen 22% since the start of May.
Forty-six active confirmed cases were reported in Garland County Tuesday, a 51% drop from a week earlier. Active confirmed cases in the county peaked at 702 Jan. 15.
The county's rolling seven-day average of new confirmed cases has fallen 74% after reaching double digits last week for the first time since March 16. Seven straight days of new cases in the single digits dropped it to its lowest level since April 27.
Dr. Gene Shelby, the county's health officer, told the task force organizing the local response to the pandemic that the county will have a better sense of its infection curve in the next week or two.
"It will be a few weeks before we know if we will have Memorial Day and Fourth of July spikes like we did last summer, which will give us an indication of what to expect going into the next school year," Shelby said in an email to the task force. "But with the continued vaccine hesitancy and masks a thing of the past for many in this group, I worry that we could easily have higher active cases in the county than we did at the start of the last school year.
"And, if we do continue to see deaths, it will be with the knowledge that they could have been prevented. So, we must continue to be creative in getting more of our fellow citizens vaccinated."
Two confirmed deaths were reported in the county in May, down from the four reported in April. January was the deadliest month for county residents, with the Health Department reporting 40 confirmed deaths. The county's confirmed death count was 36 for November, 31 for December, 22 for February and 14 for March.