Gov. Hutchinson COVID Briefing

The surge of the omicron variant of COVID-19 continues in Arkansas with state health officials reporting the highest ever single-day case increase on Tuesday.

Tuesday’s new cases surpass the prior record increase reported just last week. Previously, new cases were on the decline in Arkansas with the last spike occurring over the summer of 2021.

In all, the Arkansas Department of Health recorded more than 6,500 new cases between Monday and Tuesday. Active cases also saw their highest single-day increase, rising by 5,100 to over 32,000 detected active cases in Arkansas. The current active caseload is also the highest ever seen in Arkansas.

Arkansas’ positivity rate – which measures the percentage of COVID-19 tests that are positive – also hit a new high of 25 percent on Tuesday.  

During his weekly press conference, Gov. Asa Hutchinson said these figures suggest the pandemic is at its worst stage yet in Arkansas.

Hutchinson said he is not, however, considering a return of the emergency health declaration issued during the beginning of the pandemic. Nor is he eyeing a return of emergency powers which would allow him to implement executive orders such as mask requirements or other statewide mandates.

State officials are preparing for another possible surge in hospitalizations. Hutchinson said that, while omicron appears to be a less severe form of the virus, the high number of new cases may nonetheless drive an increase in hospitalizations.

Deaths rose on Tuesday by 27 to 9,248 since the spring of 2020. Over the same period hospitalizations rose by 53 to leave 775 Arkansans currently hospitalized due to the virus. In total nearly 30,000 Arkansans have been hospitalized by COVID-19 since the pandemic began.

As of Tuesday, more than 1.5 million Arkansans are fully vaccinated.