Arkansas' count of coronavirus cases rose Thursday by 1,794 — the second-largest one-day increase since February, behind only the increase reported Wednesday.
The number of covid-19 patients in the state's hospitals jumped to almost 300.
The state's death toll from the virus, as tracked by the Arkansas Department of Health, rose by four, to 11,600.
Thursday's increase in coronavirus cases was, with one exception, the largest in a single day since Feb. 12, during the state's first wave of infections from the omicron variant. The largest was the spike of 2,395 cases reported on Wednesday.
Growing for the second consecutive day, the average daily increase in the state's case count over a rolling seven-day period rose to 1,096. That was still short of the recent high of 1,102 the average reached on Saturday, just before a dip associated with lower testing and reporting over the Fourth of July holiday weekend.
With new cases outpacing recoveries and deaths, the number of cases in the state that were considered active rose by 765, to 13,720, the first time the count had been above 13,000 since Feb. 15.
Rising for the fourth straight day, the number of covid-19 patients in the state's hospitals rose by 22, to 299, its highest level since March 9.
The number of those patients who were on ventilators, which didn't change Wednesday, rose Thursday by one, to 12.
After rising by one on Wednesday, the number who were in intensive care grew by five, to 59, the largest number since March 21.
Since the pandemic reached Arkansas in March 2020, the state Health Department has reported 873,261 cases of coronavirus. Of those, 848,161 are considered recovered.
