Active cases of COVID-19 in Carroll County rose slightly over the past week, with 19 cases reported Monday by the Arkansas Department of Health.
Statewide, the active case total showed a more than 25 percent increase for the second consecutive week, rising to 2,581 — the fourth consecutive week of rising numbers.
The local death toll associated with the novel coronavirus remained at 102 in Carroll County, while the number of statewide deaths rose by eight to 11,416, an increase of 138 since April 4.
The overall case count in the county increased by 13 — nearly double last week’s new case count — rising to 6,140 since the pandemic began. Statewide, the number of new cases in the past week increased by 1,456, up from May 9, when 1,238 new cases were reported — an increase of 5,535 cases in the past six weeks.
The two-year pandemic total for Arkansas now stands at 837,154 positive cases, with 824,456 cases listed as “recoveries,” meaning they are no longer being monitored by the health department. In Carroll County, the total number of cases includes 6,019 recoveries, an increase of seven in the past week.
On Monday, the state health department reported 44 COVID-positive hospital admissions, with 18 in intensive care. Of those, eight required the aid of a ventilator.
On May 9, the number of hospitalizations was 55, with 18 in intensive care and 12 on a ventilator.
Since the pandemic began, hospitalizations in Arkansas have included 1,416 children under the age of 18, including 167 who had been in intensive care. This week, the state health department reported 352 active cases among children — up from last week’s number of 282 and approximately 13.6 percent of the state total.
The age group with the most active cases was 65-and-older with 511, followed by those 25-34 with 435 and those 35-44 with 388, all of which are up over the past seven days.
Since Jan. 1, the number of overall cases of the novel coronavirus in the state has increased by 277,638, 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 that are fully vaccinated had increased by 1,844 in the past week — 81,955 since Jan. 1 — rising to 1,591,889. Another 376,005 were listed as partially vaccinated, while 570,616 had received their thirddose booster.
Combined, those numbers represent approximately 69.2 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 33,606 doses, including 220 in the past week.
According to the state health department, 50.1 percent of Carroll County residents aged 5 and older have been fully immunized and another 11.1 percent are partially immunized.
Combined, those numbers represent approximately 61.2 percent of the county’s population that is eligible to receive a vaccine, far below the statewide mark.
