July 15, 2020 2:15 p.m. — COVID-19 Cases Surpass 30,000 in Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson delivered today's COVID-19 briefing from the University of Central Arkansas in Conway. The governor reported the state has 30,297 positive cases, an increase of 564 from yesterday. Of those, 78 are in correctional facilities. Hospitalizations increased 13 for a total of 458. Arkansas has 335 deaths related to the coronavirus, an increase of 4. Officials have received 5,146 test reports in the last 24 hours, which Gov. Hutchinson says is not enough to allow Arkansas to reach his goal of completing 200,000 tests in July.
Health Secretary Dr. Nate Smith reported the state has 6,439 active cases, a decrease of 119. Of those, 130 are in nursing homes, 979 are in correctional facilities and 5,330 are in the community. The counties with the most new cases are Pulaski County with 78, Sebastian County with 52, Washington County with 46 and Benton County with 38. Dr. Smith said 679 more people have recovered bringing the state's total to 23,523 Arkansans recovered.
An outbreak at the Human Development Center in Conway, the largest center in the state, is preventing the resumption of visitation at the facility. Dr. Jose Romero from the Arkansas Department of Health said the center has about 1,000 staff members and 461 residents. Currently there are 87 active cases among residents and 18 active cases among staff. Dr. Romero praised the work done by officials to get the outbreak under control. The center is tentatively scheduled to resume visitation Aug. 11 (28 days after the last positive case).
You can watch the entire daily briefing here.