ADH posts record number of test results; new COVID-19 cases above 1,100

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by Talk Business & Politics staff ([email protected]) September 18, 2020 5:00 pm 425 views 

A record number of antigen test results were posted Friday (Sept. 18) by the Arkansas Department of Health, with the report also including 1,135 new positive cases. Of those, 724 were from the traditional PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test and 411 were antigen tests.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson in a statement referred to only the confirmed cases through PCR tests.

“Today we set a record for our antigen COVID-19 testing in Arkansas. We had over 11,000 tests with both PCR tests and antigen tests. Our cases were down from yesterday at 724, but we want this to go down more,” Gov. Hutchinson said in a statement.

COVID REPORT – Sept. 18
New known COVID-19 cases, active cases, tests
• 72,338 known cumulative cases, with 578 new community cases and 146 new cases in correctional facilities
• 1,744 “probable” cases, up from 1,597 on Thursday
• There are 5,767 active cases, up from 5,726 on Thursday
• There were 9,577 test results provided in the previous 24 hours.
• There were 2,201 antigen tests in the previous 24 hours with 411 positive results.

Deaths
• 1,028, up 8
• 148 “probable” COVID-related deaths, up 9

Hospitalizations
381, down 8

Ventilators
77, up 5

Recovered cases
65,542

The top five counties with new known cases reported Friday were: Pulaski (59), Benton (34), Crawford (33), Jefferson (32), and Craighead (27). The counties accounted for 32% of the 578 new community cases.

As of Friday at 1 p.m., there were 6,694,434 U.S. cases and 198,055 deaths. Globally, there were 30,290,791 cases and 947,919 deaths.

EDUCATION CASES
The ADH on Thursday (Sept. 17) updated its tally of active and cumulative cases in schools and universities. As of Sept. 15, there were 3,230 total known COVID cases in public schools, up 38.5% from the Sept. 7 report. There were 3,021 known cumulative cases at colleges and universities in the Sept. 15 report, up 63.7% from the Sept. 7 report. Following is part of the data from the updated report.

• Public schools (as of Sept. 15)
Cumulative active cases: 610
Cumulative cases: 3,230

• Private schools (as of Sept. 15)
Cumulative active cases: 24
Cumulative cases: 169

• Colleges and universities (as of Sept. 15)
Cumulative active cases: 785
Cumulative cases: 3,021

The top five school districts in terms of known cumulative cases were Fort Smith (137), Springdale (107), Little Rock (78), Van Buren (54), and Bryant (52).