Highest daily increase in more than five months, Arkansas added 1,875 new Covid-19 cases

Conway, Arkansas – It seems like the delta variant of the virus will put a lot of pressure on the hospitals in Arkansas as the number of cases is rising again.

Arkansas Department of Health released the latest Covid-19 report on Tuesday and the numbers are not good.

According to the report, the state added 1,875 new confirmed Covid-19 cases and this is the highest daily number of cases recorder in more than five months. Luckily, no deaths were reported in the last 24 hours.

The number of active cases on Tuesday increased to 11,475.

Currently, there are 815 people hospitalized, 28 more compared to Monday’s report. Two more people are on ventilators compared to Monday, now reaching 131.

The positivity rate of all conducted tests was 31% which is another proof of how bad the delta variant is.

State health experts asked the health officials and lawmakers to reconsider their decision to ban the mask mandate earlier this year. Although the vaccination process is seeing an improvement in the last couple of days, the results will be visible in weeks or months. Mask mandate will bring much faster results as the numbers are surging.

This is what Gov. Asa Hutchinson said on Twitter:

The good news is that we have no new deaths in today’s COVID report, but the increase in hospitalizations and active cases is a trend we must turn around. The increase in cases will only stop when we follow guidelines and get the vaccine shot. The vaccine keeps people alive.