Gov. Asa Hutchinson reported 697 COVID-19 cases at his daily press conference today (June 24), bringing the cumulative total in the state to 17,375.
“When we look at the 697 new cases that have occurred over the last 24 hours, they’re spread really over a large part of Arkansas,” he said.
Hot Spring County has the largest number of new cases with 168, largely attributable to the Ouachita River Unit. Washington County has 79, Benton County has 67, Pulaski County has 51, Sebastian County has 40, Faulkner County has 29, both Yell and Columbia counties have 26 and the rest have less than 20 new cases.
“Whenever you look at that, you see overall, the growth of cases, declining in Washington and Benton counties somewhat so you can see some level of progress that’s there,” said Hutchinson. “But, you also see new areas of challenge in various parts of the state.”
In terms of hospitalizations, they have increased by 19 from yesterday to 267. There are also three additional COVID-related deaths with the total now at 240.
Secretary of Health Dr. Nate Smith said 5,567 COVID-19 cases are active with 100 in nursing homes and at least 819 in correctional facilities. So far, 11,568 have recovered from the virus, up 348 from yesterday.
“At least 43 of [the 697 new cases] were in correctional facilities, but there’s another 168 that came in from Hot Spring County and those are all in the city of Malvern,” Smith said. “I don’t have addresses for those, but I suspect that most, or all of those, are in the Ouachita River facility.”
The state continues to expand its testing for COVID-19. Yesterday, 7,374 tests were conducted across the state yesterday. During the month of June, 125,002 tests have been conducted. Hutchinson noted that the total number of tests for June could reach up to 140,000 by the end of the month.
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