COVID-19 in Arkansas: A Weekly Snapshot, Oct. 10-15, 2020

This week, Arkansas surpassed 1,600 deaths from COVID-19. As of Thursday, Oct. 15, the Arkansas Department of Health (ADH) reported 1,645 confirmed deaths among confirmed and probable cases. New confirmed and probable cases increased to by 1,278 to 96,524.

According to the Arkansas Department of Health’s Educational Institutions Report released Thursday, there are 890 active cases among staff members, students, and teachers in the state’s public school districts. Total positive cases increased by 447 since the Monday report to 6,597, of which 4,770 are student cases. At colleges and universities, there are 453 active cases. The three institutions with the highest numbers of active cases are:

• Harding University in Searcy with 92 cases
• University of Central Arkansas in Conway with 53 cases
• University of Arkansas in Fayetteville with 48 cases

Total positive cases increased by 266 since the Monday report to 5,253 cases. Of these, 4,194 are student cases.

Some of the known football cancellations due to positive COVID-19 cases this week include:

• Cabot and Little Rock Central
• Alma and Morrilton
• Clarendon and Hazen

On our COVID-19 in Arkansas page this week, all the data in the COVID-19: Local Data dashboard have been updated through Monday. Some key data points:

By School District

There are 26 school districts in the red zone this week as of Monday, up from 13 last week. Eleven of the districts were in the red zone in the prior week. School districts in the red zone have 50 or more new known infections per 10,000 residents in the community during a 14-day period. These districts are:

• Lawrence County: 98 new known infections per 10K residents
• Spring Hill: 81 new known infections per 10K residents
• Sloan-Hendrix: 80 new known infections per 10K residents
• Deer/Mt. Judea: 73 new known infections per 10K residents
• Brookland: 73 new known infections per 10K residents
• Jackson County: 72 new known infections per 10K residents
• Green Forest: 71 new known infections per 10K residents
• Mammoth Spring: 70 new known infections per 10K residents
• DeWitt: 67 new known infections per 10K residents
• Barton-Lexa: 64 new known infections per 10K residents
• Ozark: 64 new known infections per 10K residents
• Mulberry/Pleasant View: 61 new known infections per 10K residents
• Cedar Ridge: 61 new known infections per 10K residents
• Hoxie: 61 new known infections per 10K residents
• Paris: 60 new known infections per 10K residents
• Berryville: 60 new known infections per 10K residents
• Clarendon: 59 new known infections per 10K residents
• Newport: 58 new known infections per 10K residents
• Viola: 56 new known infections per 10K residents
• Armorel: 56 new known infections per 10K residents
• County Line: 56 new known infections per 10K residents
• Stuttgart: 55 new known infections per 10K residents
• Nettleton: 53 new known infections per 10K residents
• Westside Consolidated: 51 new known infections per 10K residents
• Marked Tree: 50 new known infections per 10K residents
• Corning: 50 new known infections per 10K residents

Tomorrow night, Oct. 16, fourteen of the high schools in red-zone school districts have scheduled football games. Two of these schools are playing each other: Corning and Walnut Ridge.