Arkansas reports 17 COVID-19 deaths

(From Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson)

Governor Asa Hutchinson provided today's update on Arkansas's COVID-19 response.

In its Monday update, the Arkansas Department of Health reported 654 new cases; 7,839 active cases; 608 hospitalized, which is up 32 from Sunday; 104 on ventilators, which is up 5 from Sunday; deaths added today, 17, for a total of 1,586; a total of 93,487 cases; 80,496 recoveries; PCR tests, 9,089; antigen tests, 705.

The Health Department reported that the top counties for new cases are Pulaski, 80; Washington, 57; Sebastian, 33; Craighead, 32; and Benton, 27.

Governor Hutchinson released the following statement on today’s COVID-19 numbers:

“Our hospitalizations continue to be at a high level. This puts stress on our healthcare workers. While we have sufficient bed capacity in our hospitals, this does strain the system. This is why we need to work together to reduce our cases and reduce our hospitalizations.”