Arkansas reached another new high today (Sept. 11) of 1,107 new positive COVID-19 cases from PCR tests and 78 new positive cases from antigen tests, for a total of 1,185 new cases. The following is a roundup of data presenting a current snapshot of the pandemic in Arkansas.
Today also marks the last daily COVID-19 update by Gov. Asa Hutchinson since the press conferences began in mid-March. The governor announced during his update on Thursday, Sept. 10, that next week he will shift to weekly updates, the first of which will be held Tuesday, Sept. 15.
An effort by the Arkansas Department of Health (ADH) to expand testing capacity through a partnership with Baptist Health in Little Rock was announced Wednesday, Sept. 9. Baptist Health will receive 50% of tests from ADH and will provide analysis of these tests using a testing machine provided by ADH. This partnership will allow for a 20% increase in testing capacity.
According to the Arkansas Department of Health’s Educational Institutions Report released on Thursday, Sept. 10, there are 525 active cases among staff, students, and teachers in the state’s public school districts. Total positive cases increased by 253 to 2,585, of which 1,920 are student cases. At colleges and universities, there are 1,293 active cases. The three institutions with the highest active cases are the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville with 953 cases, Arkansas State University in Jonesboro with 70 cases, and the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff with 57 cases. Total positive cases increased by 439 since the Monday, Sept. 7, report to 2,285 cases. Of these, 1,711 are student cases.
On our COVID-19 in Arkansas page this week, we expanded our COVID-19: A Local View dashboard to include trends for new cases at the community level. We’ve also updated all the data in the dashboard, which now run through Monday.
Some key data points:
By School District
There are three school districts in the red zone this week as of Monday, down from six last week. None of these school districts were in the red zone in the prior week. School districts in the red zone have 50 or more new cases per 10,000 residents in the community during a 14-day period. These school districts include:
- Deer-Mt. Judea: 68 new cases per 10K residents
- Fayetteville: 68 new cases per 10K residents
- Mount Ida: 57 new cases per 10K residents
Two high schools in red-zone school districts have football games tonight: Fayetteville and Mount Ida. One of the opponent schools is in the green zone with zero to nine cases per 10,000 residents, and the other is in the lime green zone with 10 to 19 cases per 10,000 residents.
By Community
The 10 communities with the highest new case rates per 10,000 residents as of Sept. 7:
- Gould: 183 new cases per 10K residents
- Mount Ida: 83 new cases per 10K residents
- Monette: 53 new cases per 10K residents
- Pottsville: 49 new cases per 10K residents
- Fordyce: 42 new cases per 10K residents
- Mountain View: 41 new cases per 10K residents
- Green Forest: 41 new cases per 10K residents
- Fayetteville: 41 new cases per 10K residents
- Clinton: 41 new cases per 10K residents
- Pine Bluff: 39 new cases per 10K residents
By Zip Code
The five zip codes with the highest rates of new cases as of Sept. 7:
- 71643: 183 new cases per 10K residents
- 72701: 112 new cases per 10K residents
- 71957: 84 new cases per 10K residents
- 72447: 53 new cases per 10K residents
- 72858: 50 new cases per 10K residents
