Arkansas COVID-19 cases up to 6,777

(05/29/20) Arkansas COVID-19 cases up to 6,777 

The following stats were shared Friday at Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s daily COVID-19 news conference in Little Rock and posted on the Arkansas Department of Health’s website:

•    6,777 total confirmed cases, up 239 from 6,538 on Thursday.

•    1,699 active cases, down 131 from Thursday.

•    4,946 recoveries, up 363 from Thursday.

•    132 deaths, up seven from Thursday.

•    113 cases requiring hospitalization, up nine from Thursday.

•    24 cases on a ventilator, down three from Thursday.

•    136 cases in Garland County, up one from Thursday.

•    130 recoveries in Garland County, up two from Thursday.

•    1 death in Garland County, no change from Thursday.

The 239 new cases, two of which come from correctional facilities and 237 come from community cases. There were a total of 2,702 test results received, which puts testing for the month of May over 70,000 tests administered and they reported a positivity rate of 4.1%. Since the beginning of the pandemic, there have been 121,302 (4% of the population) Arkansans tested so far. The counties with the highest numbers of new cases were Washington (53), Benton (48), Sevier (31), Crittenden (21) and Pulaski (15).

Dr. Nate Smith is tracking the lifting of restrictions and the whereabouts of the last 14 days for the new cases. Through the contact tracing, they discovered that the most common location is at beauty shops (2%), followed by gym or daycare (less than 1.5%), restaurants (1%), and church (less than 1%) motels and hotels (less than .5%). These are encouraging numbers that are not shown to have a connection between the re-openings and number of new cases.

Gov. Hutchinson stated that there’s not one epidemic in Arkansas but five different regional epidemics in five different stages (7 day rolling average). The northwest region has the highest amount of new cases followed by the southwest region. The northeast, Central and southeast regions are currently on a downward trend with southeast having the lowest cases per day. 

In addition to the 79 local health units testing 5 days a week, there will be events scattered around the state. The locations of the events are as followed:

  • Friday, May 29: Dardanelle
  • Saturday, May 30: Fayetteville, West Memphis, De Queen and Pine Bluff (U of A PB)
  • Saturday, June 6: Jonesboro, Wrightsville and El Dorado

Secretary Stacy Hurst announced that the state campgrounds will reopen to tent camping as well as reopen bathhouses that support campers and day-use visitors will be open effective Monday, June 1. Park Rangers and uniformed staff will be monitoring the parks and encouraging visitors to use the parks with social distancing and CDC guidelines in mind. For more information, visit arkansasready.com.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson encouraged individuals enjoying the outdoors to continue with social distancing and CDC guidelines. The Garland County Sheriff’s Office and the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission will be monitoring the local lakes for congregations that might endanger the public health and to remind individuals about social distancing.