Coronavirus totals continue to increase in Arkansas, jumping to 197 as of Monday afternoon.
Earlier today, the state’s total for positive coronavirus cases was 168. This is an increase of 29, and an increase of 32 from Sunday’s total.
One of the major sources of concern for Dr. Nate Smith, the state’s chief medical officer, is the spread of COVID-19 in nursing homes. One nursing home, Briarwood Nursing Home and Rehabilitation has reported at least 41 positive cases of the virus. In addition, there have been cases reported at Apple Creek Nursing and Rehab in Centerton and The Villages of General Baptist West in Pine Bluff.
There have been 1,128 individuals tested for the virus with 931 negative tests so far. The volume of tests have increased in Arkansas, Smith says, but there has been a lag in the Department of Health’s investigations. The department has focused on the nursing homes in the past 24 hours.
Increasingly, the ADH investigators are finding more coronavirus cases that do not have known travel sources or points of contact. This indicates increases community transmission, Smith said. He expects to see more instances of community transmission in Little Rock and other parts of the state.
In the United States, there have been 41,708 cumulative cases of coronavirus to date with 573 deaths attributed to the virus. There have been no deaths attributed to coronavirus in Arkansas.
At the global level, there have been more than 370,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus. The Johns Hopkins COVID-19 tracker lists 372,563 confirmed cases of coronavirus worldwide with 16,411 total deaths.
According to the tracker, there have been 100,927 recoveries from the virus. Smith told reporters in a Monday afternoon press conference that there have been at least five recoveries from the virus in Arkansas.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has issued guidance on return-to-work practices. Individuals are considered to have recovery if at least three days have passed since the resolution of symptoms with the use of medications and improvement in respiratory symptoms, or at least seven days have passed since symptoms first appeared.
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