Active cases of COVID-19 in Carroll County are still on the rise, with 37 reported by the Arkansas Department of Health on Monday. Statewide, the number of active cases rose to 4,936, a nearly 27-percent increase since May 31.
In a strange turn, the state health department Monday reduced the number of Carroll County deaths attributed to the novel coronavirus to 103 after several weeks of reporting 104. Phone and email messages to the department seeking clarification regarding the change went unreturned.
Statewide, the number of deaths attributed to complications from the virus rose by 14 to 11,98.
The overall case count in Carroll County increased by 18, rising to 6,185 since the pandemic began. Statewide, the number of new cases increased by 2,763, up from the 2,593 new cases reported May 31 — an increase of 14,417 cases in the past nine weeks, an average of 1,601 cases per week.
The two-year pandemic total for Arkansas now stands at 845,946 positive cases, with 829,361 cases listed as “recoveries,” meaning they are no longer being monitored by the health department. In Carroll County, the total number of cases includes 6,045 recoveries, an increase of eight since May 31.
On Monday, the state health department reported 96 COVID-positive hospital admissions, with 20 in intensive care. Of those, four required the aid of a ventilator.
On May 31, the number of hospitalizations was 71, with 15 in intensive care and five on a ventilator.
Since the pandemic began, hospitalizations in Arkansas have included 1,420 children under the age of 18, including 167 who had been in intensive care. This week, the state health department reported 545 active cases among children — up from the 456 reported May 31 — approximately 11 percent of the state total.
The age group with the most active cases was 65-and-older with 1,083, followed by those 25-34 with 794 and those 35-44 with 739, all of which are up since May 31.
Since Jan. 1, the number of overall cases of the novel coronavirus in the state has increased by 286,430, with the majority of those occurring among unvaccinated individuals. The number of active cases in Arkansas this year peaked on Jan. 21, when 102,576 were reported.
On the vaccination front, the state health department reported Monday the number of Arkansans aged 5 and older who are fully vaccinated had increased by 20,184 since May 31 — 106,122 since Jan. 1 — rising to 1,616,056. Another 285,432 were listed as partially vaccinated, while 670,430 had received a third-dose booster. Combined, those numbers represent approximately 66.8 percent of Arkansans aged 5 and older.
In Carroll County, 29,783 doses of the various vaccines had been administered by Jan. 1. As of Monday, that number had increased to a reported 34,358 doses, including 644 since May 31. Approximately 52.7 percent of eligible Carroll County residents have been fully immunized and another 7.1 percent are partially immunized.
