June 1, 2020 1:49 p.m. — Gov. Asa Hutchinson delivered today's COVID-19 briefing from Mercy Hospital NWA in Rogers. He reported the state has 7,443 positive cases, an increase of 190 from yesterday. Three of the new cases come from correctional facilities. Hospitalizations have increased by 6 for a total of 121. Arkansas has 133 deaths related to the coronavirus, the same as yesterday.
The governor said 3,798 tests have been conducted in the last 24 hours with a 6 percent positivity rate. He said 80,808 tests were conducted in May, which exceeded his goal of 60,000. Hutchinson said he hopes that will continue in June as an effort to test all nursing residents and staff gets underway.
The state has a total of 1,909 active cases. There are 985 active cases in Northwest Arkansas. In Benton County, 49 percent of cases are among the Hispanic community and 28 percent are among poultry workers.
You can watch the entire daily briefing here.
Gov. Hutchinson will host a news conference on recent protests in Arkansas and across the country beginning at 4 p.m. in Little Rock. The news conference will be livestreamed here.
