Another daily record set for COVID-19 cases; active cases rise in public schools

Arkansas set another daily record Friday (Oct. 23) with 1,337 new known COVID-19 cases reported by the Arkansas Department of Health. The daily tally pushes the cumulative number of confirmed and antigen-positive cases to 104,135.

Friday’s report also included a rise in active cases, deaths, hospitalizations and ventilator use.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson urged Arkansans to avoid gatherings in which people aren’t wearing masks or practicing social distancing.

“Today we see new cases significantly higher than last Friday. The weekly trend shows we are growing in our cases toward the end of the week, and this growth reflects the activities from the previous weekend. Next week’s number of new cases will be determined by how careful we all are over this coming weekend. Let’s avoid those gatherings where groups are not adhering to social distancing and mask-wearing,” Gov. Hutchinson said in a statement.

The ADH on Thursday updated its report on COVID cases in educational institutions. The update showed an increase in active cases in public schools, and declines in private schools and colleges and universities.

• Public schools (as of Oct. 22)
Cumulative active cases: 987, down from 897 on Oct. 19
Cumulative cases: 7,546, up from 7,027 on Oct. 19

• Private schools (as of Oct. 22)
Cumulative active cases: 66, down from 77 on Oct. 19
Cumulative cases: 442, up from 425 on Oct. 19

• Colleges and universities (as of Oct. 22)
Cumulative active cases: 394, down from 436 on Oct. 19
Cumulative cases: 5,726, up from 5,534 on Oct. 19

COVID REPORT – Oct. 23
New known COVID-19 cases, active cases, tests
• 97,339 known cumulative PCR cases, with 1,028 new community cases and 19 cases in correctional facilities
• 6,796 “probable” cases, up from 6,506 on Thursday
• There are 7,667 active cases, up from 7,357 on Thursday
• There were 10,740 test results provided in the previous 24 hours.
• There were 2,309 antigen tests in the previous 24 hours with 378 positives.

Deaths
• 1,626, up 10
• 156 “probable” COVID-related deaths, unchanged

Hospitalizations
624, up 12

Ventilators
99, up 3

Recovered cases
88,037

The top five counties with new known cases reported Friday were: Pulaski (110), Washington (78), Benton (69), Craighead (65), and Garland (63). The counties accounted for 37.5% of the 1,028 new community cases.

As of Friday at 1 p.m., there were 8,440,895 U.S. cases and 223,381 deaths. Globally, there were 41,982,448 cases and 1,140,422 deaths.