July 21, 2020 2:07 p.m. — During today's COVID-19 update, Gov. Asa Hutchinson reported the state has 34,655 positive cases, an increase of 728 from yesterday. Of those, 122 are in correctional facilities. Hospitalizations increased 17 for a total of 488. Arkansas has 374 deaths related to the coronavirus, an increase of 11. The governor noted 6 of those were late reports and did not occur in the last 24 hours. Officials received 5,670 test reports yesterday. Gov. Hutchinson said 119,769 tests (about 4 percent of the population) have been conducted in July.
Dr. Jose Romero with the Arkansas Department of Health reported the state has 6,998 active cases, a decrease of 169 from yesterday. Of those, 138 are in nursing homes, 921 are in correctional facilities and 5,939 are in the community. The top five counties with the most new cases are Pulaski County with 110, Washington County with 62, Crawford County with 46, Benton County with 45 and Sebastian County with 30. Gov. Hutchinson said he remains committed to schools reopening the week of Aug. 24.
Education Secretary Johnny Key gave examples of plans from various school districts, which include blended learning options, enhanced cleaning procedures and various efforts for communicating with families. The governor said tomorrow's briefing will be at Washington Regional Medical Center in Fayetteville.
You can watch the entire daily briefing here.
