Arkansas reports 42 COVID-19 deaths

(From Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson)

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

In its Thursday update, the Arkansas Department of Health reported 2,491 new cases; 24,740 active cases; 1,295 hospitalized, which is down 67 from Wednesday; 241 on ventilators, which is down 14 from Wednesday; deaths added today, 42, for a total of 4,228; a total of 264,511 cases; 193,321 recoveries; PCR tests, 12,294; antigen tests, 3,161.

The Health Department reported that the top counties for new cases are Pulaski, 327; Washington, 212; Benton, 175; Garland, 127; and Sebastian, 99.

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

"Today's report shows over 800 fewer cases with higher testing than this time last week. We also saw a decrease in hospitalizations and ventilator usage. This will relieve some of the strain on our health care system as we continue to distribute vaccine doses."