By Ray King
Governor Asa Hutchinson on Tuesday said the state has adopted a strategy to fight the spread of COVID-19 which relies on working with the Arkansas Department of Health and on citizens taking personal responsibility.
At his daily COVID-19 press briefing, Hutchinson said Department of Health guidelines like testing, contact tracing and isolation are implemented vigorously and go hand in hand with social distancing and wearing a mask.
In the past 24 hours, an additional 794 positive cases of COVID-19 were reported in Arkansas, bringing the cumulative total to 29,733. Of those, 6,558 ae considered active cases.
Pulaski County had the largest number of new cases in the state with 111 reported. Washington County followed with 68 cases, Sebastian County had 52, Pope County 51, Johnson County 37, Benton County 36, Craighead County 29 and Faulkner County 24. No other county in the state had more than 20.
State Health Officer Dr. Nate Smith said 130 of the active cases were in nursing homes, 971 in correctional facilities and the remaining 5,487 in community settings. A total of 22,844 people are listed as having recovered from COVID-19.
There are currently 445 people hospitalized, an increase of eight from Monday and there have been eight additional deaths, raising the state total to 331.
Hutchinson said 6,503 tests were conducted over the past 24 hours and the State Health Department is working to acquire additional equipment to increase the number of tests conducted in the state.
