LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas reported more than 1,300 new COVID-19 cases Wednesday as the state’s hospitalizations with the coronavirus increased for the 15th day in a row.
The Department of Health said the state’s COVID-19 cases increased by 1,309 to 360,258 since the pandemic began. COVID-19 hospitalizations increased by 41 to 647, and deaths increased by seven to 5,977.
Arkansas continued to rank tops in the country in new cases per capita over the past two weeks, according to Johns Hopkins University research data. The latest surge has been fueled by the delta variant of the virus and the state’s low vaccination rate.
Only 35% of the state’s population has been fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Twenty-two percent of the state’s hospital beds and 5% of its intensive care unit beds are available, according to the Department of Health. There are 245 COVID-19 patients in the state’s ICUs and 103 on ventilators.
