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 website:
• 255,836 cumulative confirmed cases, up 110 from Sunday.
• 244 rolling seven-day average of new confirmed cases, up 1.71 from Sunday.
• 2,738,729 PCR test reports, up 2,287 from Sunday.
• 9.3% cumulative PCR infection rate, down from 9.4% Sunday.
• 69,115 cumulative probable cases, up 23 from Sunday.
• 17% cumulative antigen infection rate, no change from Sunday.
• 3,593 active confirmed and probable cases, down 74 from Sunday.
• 1,088,150 vaccine doses received, no change from Sunday.
• 684,280 doses given, up 6,856 from Sunday.
• 338 hospitalizations, up three from Sunday.
• 74 cases on a ventilator, up nine from Sunday.
• 141 ICU admissions, no change from Sunday.
• 4,315 confirmed deaths, up seven from Sunday.
• 1,028 probable deaths, up 17 from Sunday.
• 2,002 nursing home deaths, up five from Sunday.
• 8,263 cumulative confirmed cases in Garland County, up nine from Sunday.
• 11.29 rolling seven-day average of new confirmed cases, up 0.58 from Sunday.
• 105,409 PCR and antigen test reports, up 113 from Sunday.
• 79,865 public lab reports, up 72 from Sunday.
• 25,544 private lab reports, up 41 from Sunday.
• 8.9% cumulative PCR infection rate, no change from Sunday.
• 110 active confirmed cases in Garland County, down 10 from Sunday.
• 7,959 recoveries of confirmed cases in Garland County, up 58 from Sunday.
• 1,565 cumulative probable cases in Garland County, up one from Sunday.
• 22 active probable cases in Garland County, down three from Sunday.
• 194 confirmed deaths, up one from Sunday.
• 39 probable deaths, no change from Sunday.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson made 180,000 people eligible for vaccination Monday, expanding eligibility to everyone in Phase 1-B.
The newly eligible include food service and manufacturing workers, postal workers and essential government workers. Hutchinson said lower than expected demand at mass vaccination clinics held over the weekend led to the expansion. Opening up eligibility to new groups when demand slows has helped the state efficiently administer its allotment of vaccine, Hutchinson said, noting that Monday's expansion will keep the state on schedule to complete Phase 1-B by the end of the month.
"We have to keep the demand for the vaccines up," he said. "We have to keep the lines full. We want to make sure we get them out as fast as we can, within 72 hours."
Retired Air Force Col. Robert Ator, the state's program manager for vaccine distribution, said 234 of the more than 1 million doses the state has received spoiled before they could be injected. Most of those were from the initial stage of distribution, when the state was focusing on nursing home residents and workers.
"Any vaccine that sits in a fridge is of no use to us," Ator said. "It needs to be in the arm of an Arkansan."
Hutchinson said the Arkansas Department of Health has set up a call center to help people make vaccine appointments. The public can call the 800-985-6030 number from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday.
"If it's your turn to get a vaccination, be patient, because we're adding 180,000, and we'll have over 100,000 doses this week we can administer," Hutchinson said. "You have to be patient, because you can clog the system quickly."
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released public health recommendations Monday for people who have been fully vaccinated. The guidance said the fully vaccinated can congregate with each other indoors without wearing masks or socially distancing.
They can congregate indoors and unmasked with unvaccinated people who are at low risk of developing complications from the virus. The fully vaccinated don't have to quarantine or get tested if they have been exposed to an actively infected person, provided the vaccinated person is asymptomatic subsequent to exposure.