Fewer COVID-19 patients occupied hospital beds Tuesday after Monday's record-setting increase in hospitalizations, but Gov. Asa Hutchinson cautioned that hospital rolls will remain near peak levels even as the infection curve appears to be climbing down from its omicron-fueled peak.
Despite Tuesday's 8% rise in the infection curve, a bump Hutchinson attributed to low testing numbers from the Jan. 17 Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday, Tuesday's rolling seven-day average of new cases was 3% lower than the Jan. 16 peak.
"We're not discouraged by that number, even though it's extraordinarily high during this pandemic," Hutchinson, referring to the 7,943 new cases reported Tuesday, compared to the 3,213 reported the previous Tuesday, said at his weekly pandemic update.
Hospitalizations have risen 28% since the infection curve peaked more than a week ago, and COVID-19 patients in intensive care topped 500 Tuesday for the first time since Sept. 9.
"I'm hopeful it's going to flatten and decline some, but there's no guarantee of that," Hutchinson said of hospitalizations. "It all depends upon behavior and the pattern of the omicron variant that has been somewhat unpredictable. We see the early signs of it going down in Arkansas, and that's the national pattern as well.
"We might have peaked, but the hospitalizations follow our cases. Even though the hospitalizations have declined a little today, I would not be surprised if they edge up a little more, because of the fact it is a lagging indicator."
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. Because of technical difficulties, the Health Department website's COVID-19 dashboard wasn't updated Monday. The following stats were posted Tuesday on the Health Department's website:
• 749,824 cumulative cases, up 7,943 from Monday.
• 8,833.57 rolling seven-day average of new cases, up 676.57 from Monday.
• 4,770,460 PCR test reports, up 13,721 from Monday.
• 11.2% cumulative PCR infection rate, up from 11.1% Monday.
• 89,571 active cases, down 3,743 from Monday.
• 23,494 active juvenile cases, no data available Monday.
• 650,475 recoveries, no data available Monday.
• 4,911,890 vaccine doses received, up 52,800 from Monday.
• 3,858,993 doses given, up 6,047 from Monday.
• 1,785 hospitalizations, down 32 from Monday.
• 233 cases on ventilators, up 18 from Monday.
• 515 ICU patients, up 22 from Monday.
• 9,556 deaths, up 24 from Monday.
• 2,321 nursing home deaths, no change from Monday.
• 20,247 cumulative cases in Garland County, no data available Monday.
• 167.43 rolling seven-day average of new cases, up 16.29 from Monday.
• 183,162 PCR and antigen test reports, up 512 from Monday.
• 11.4% cumulative PCR infection rate, up from 11.3% Monday.
• 1,601 active cases in Garland County, no data available Monday.
• 18,209 recoveries in Garland County, no data available Monday.
• 437 deaths, no change from Monday.