LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — On Thursday, Arkansas reported 25 more deaths from the coronavirus as the state’s hospitalizations from the virus continued to drop.
The Arkansas Department of Health said the state’s COVID-19 deaths now total 5,199, while its hospitalizations dropped by 23 to 712. The state’s coronavirus cases rose by 1,103 to 311,043.
Over the past two weeks, the rolling average number of daily new cases in Arkansas has decreased by 477.1, a decrease of 26%, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson said he found the trends encouraging that the state’s battle plan against COVID-19 was having the desired effect.
“For the second day in a row, we see a decrease of over 50% in new cases from last week,” he said in a Thursday statement. “Vaccine administration has progressed throughout the state, with an increase of over 94,000 since last week. We must continue doing our part in this fight.”
In December, the state began providing the vaccine to health care workers, first responders, law enforcement, and nursing home residents and staff. Last month, it expanded to teachers and people at least 70 years old.
The health department said 442,134 of the 651,275 doses of the vaccine Arkansas has received had been given.
