The death toll for Carroll County residents affected by the COVID-19 pandemic remained at 116 as of Friday, Sept. 23, and the number of active cases continued to fall, dropping to 52.

The new totals, reported by the Arkansas Department of Health, continued to reflect a downward trend in active and new cases over the past three weeks. After reporting 54 active cases on Aug. 26, the ADH listed 73 on Sept. 9, and 67 on Sept. 16.

Last Friday’s report included 27 new cases reported in the county, down from the 33 reported Sept. 16.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, meanwhile, continued to rate Carroll County’s community transmission level in its weekly report at “low,” with a case rate of 98.66 per 100,000 — down from 140.94 on Sept. 16 — with new COVID-19 hospital admissions per 100,000 at 8.6, a marked increase from the previous week’s tally of 3.7. The percentage of staffed, inpatient beds in use by patients with confirmed cases of COVID-19 was reported as 3 percent, up from 1 percent the previous week.

Friday’s new cases raised the county’s pandemic total to 6,899 positive cases with 6,731 reported recoveries.

On the vaccination front, 36,576 doses of the various vaccines have been administered in Carroll County, and the health department reported that 54.5 percent of eligible residents are fully vaccinated, with an additional 7.6 percent listed as partially vaccinated.