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 Monday on the Arkansas Department of Health's website:
• 268,392 cumulative confirmed cases, up 315 from Friday.
• 3,087,009 PCR test reports, up 7,751 from Friday.
• 8.7% cumulative PCR infection rate, no change from Friday.
• 75,675 cumulative probable cases, up 143 from Friday.
• 14.4% cumulative antigen infection rate, no change from Friday.
• 336,107 recoveries of confirmed and probable cases, up 404 from Friday.
• 2,035 active confirmed and probable cases, up 50 from Friday.
• 2,663,300 vaccine doses received, no change from Friday.
• 2,051,260 doses given, up 11,281 from Friday.
• 203 hospitalizations, up one from Friday.
• 48 cases on a ventilator, up six from Friday.
• 103 ICU admissions, up eight from Friday.
• 4,653 confirmed deaths, up four from Friday.
• 1,210 probable deaths, no change from Friday.
• 2,093 nursing home deaths, no change from Friday.
• 8,723 cumulative confirmed cases in Garland County, up eight from Friday.
• 119,763 PCR and antigen test reports, up 343 from Friday.
• 91,242 private lab reports, up 339 from Friday.
• 28,167 public lab reports, up four from Friday.
• 8.7% cumulative PCR infection rate, no change from Friday.
• 32 active confirmed cases in Garland County, down one from Friday.
• 8,476 recoveries of confirmed cases, up nine from Friday.
• 1,679 cumulative probable cases in Garland County, up three from Friday.
• 18 active probable cases in Garland County, down two from Friday.
• 214 confirmed deaths, no change from Friday.
• 49 probable deaths, no change from Friday.
The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences on Monday announced a one-year project that is part of a national effort to reduce COVID-19 in hardest-hit populations.
UAMS researchers and their community partners across Arkansas are studying the causes behind COVID-19's devastating impact on minorities and developing plans to help increase vaccination rates, a news release said.
Supporting the one-year project is a $1.4 million grant from the National Institutes of Health Community Engagement Alliance Against COVID-19 Disparities.
UAMS was one of 11 teams selected as part of the national alliance, according to the release. The UAMS CEAL Team project is titled, "COVID-19 PREVENT (Partnership for Rapid Engagement to Enhance Vaccine uptake for Everyone: Neighbors Working Together) Project."
"Last year, Arkansas was identified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as a national hot spot for COVID-19 disparities among Marshallese and Hispanic populations. The disparities in percentage of cases, hospitalizations and deaths among these populations were so severe that CDC and NIH officials visited Northwest Arkansas to investigate," the release said.
Black/African American and rural communities across the state have been struck hard, too, said Pebbles Fagan, one of three principal investigators on the study.
"Aggressive steps are needed to protect Black/African American communities from COVID-19 because their life expectancy declined by nearly three years since 2019. This is alarming," Fagan, professor and director of the Center for the Study of Tobacco at the UAMS Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health, said in the release.