New COVID-19 cases top 1,100, with almost 10,000 test results reported

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by Talk Business & Politics staff ([email protected]) September 17, 2020 4:24 pm 625 views 

The Arkansas Department of Health on Thursday (Sept. 17) reported more than 1,100 new COVID-19 cases, with 223 of those coming from antigen testing. Gov. Asa Hutchinson said the increased testing will help the state “reduce the spread of the virus.”

Thursday’s ADH report shows a record 9,656 tests, with 7,910 PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests – the more accurate testing process – and 1,746 antigen tests. The testing results showed 883 new known COVID-19 cases and 223 positive antigen tests for a combined 1,106 positive cases.

“The increased use of antigen point-of-care testing is encouraging. This shows our investment in point-of-care testing is helping address the new demand for rapid tests on our K-12 and college campuses,” Gov. Hutchinson said in a statement. “Today’s report includes almost 10,000 tests between the PCR tests and the antigen tests. Of course, this means we identified new cases, and this will allow our more than 770 contact tracers to do their work and reduce the spread of the virus. Right now, we are concentrating on identifying communities that have an increased level of spread and encouraging stricter compliance with our health guidelines.”

COVID REPORT – Sept. 17
New known COVID-19 cases, active cases, tests
• 71,614, with 831 new community cases and 52 new cases in correctional facilities
• 1,597 “probable” cases, up from 1,488 on Wednesday
• There are 5,726 active cases, up from 5,572 on Thursday
• There were 7,910 test results provided in the previous 24 hours.
• There were 1,746 antigen tests in the previous 24 hours with 223 positive results.

Deaths
• 1,018, up 8
• 148 “probable” COVID-related deaths, up 9

Hospitalizations
389, up 2

Ventilators
72, up 7

Recovered cases
65,941

The top five counties with new known cases reported Thursday were: Pulaski (67), Sebastian (60), Washington (54), Benton (34), and Craighead and Jefferson each with 32. The counties accounted for 33.6% of the 831 new community cases.

As of Thursday at 2 p.m., there were 6,650,570 U.S. cases and 197,244 deaths. Globally, there were 29,976,621 cases and 942,758 deaths.