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 Thursday on the Arkansas Department of Health website:
• 256,519 cumulative confirmed cases, up 250 from Wednesday.
• 225.14 rolling seven-day average of new confirmed cases, down eight from Wednesday.
• 2,759,924 PCR test reports, up 7,741 from Wednesday.
• 9.3% cumulative PCR infection rate, no change from Wednesday.
• 69,521 cumulative probable cases, up 90 from Wednesday.
• 16.8% cumulative antigen infection rate, down from 16.9% Wednesday.
• 3,144 active confirmed and probable cases, down 83 from Wednesday.
• 1,209,300 vaccine doses received, up 46,970 from Wednesday.
• 724,976 doses given, up 15,395 from Wednesday.
• 278 hospitalizations, down 23 from Wednesday.
• 67 cases on a ventilator, down five from Wednesday.
• 125 ICU patients, down three from Wednesday.
• 4,342 confirmed deaths, up 10 from Wednesday.
• 1,068 probable deaths, up 18 from Wednesday.
• 2,012 nursing home deaths, up three from Wednesday.
• 8,309 cumulative confirmed cases in Garland County, up eight from Wednesday.
• 13.14 rolling seven-day average of new confirmed cases, down 2.29 from Wednesday.
• 106,399 PCR and antigen test reports, up 395 from Wednesday.
• 80,564 private lab reports, up 138 from Wednesday.
• 25,835 public lab reports, 257 from Wednesday.
• 8.9% cumulative PCR infection rate, no change from Wednesday.
• 94 active confirmed cases in Garland County, down 10 from Wednesday.
• 8,018 recoveries of confirmed cases in Garland County, up 18 from Wednesday.
• 1,583 cumulative probable cases in Garland County, up three from Wednesday.
• 23 active probable cases in Garland County, up one from Wednesday.
• 197 confirmed deaths, no change from Wednesday.
• 43 probable deaths, up two from Wednesday.
Garland County's rolling seven-day average of new confirmed cases remained at early October levels Thursday, the one-year anniversary of the state's first diagnosed case.
The county's active confirmed cases fell below 100 Thursday for the first time since mid July, when the county's polymerase chain reaction-confirmed infection curve began its first steep ascent.
The second sharp rise began in November, pushing the curve to a new peak on Veterans Day that continued its rise through the week before Thanksgiving. The curve traced a new height two weeks after Thanksgiving, peaking four out of five days before flattening during the run-up to Christmas.
The new year began with the rolling average peaking seven times in eight days, reaching its highest number, 110.71, of the pandemic Jan. 11. Save a brief spike in late January, the curve has followed a downward trajectory as winter yielded to spring. Thursday's average was almost 90% lower than the Jan. 11 peak.
Active confirmed cases peaked at 702 Jan. 15. The 3,144 active confirmed and probable cases reported statewide Thursday were almost 90% lower than their Jan. 9 peak.
"As we remember the one-year anniversary of the first COVID-19 case in Arkansas today, we look back at the challenges we've overcome," Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Thursday in a news release. "The past year has been difficult for each of us, but the vaccine gives us hope in our fight against this virus."