At Tuesday's coronavirus response briefing, Governor Asa Hutchinson announced the state had added another 794 new cases of COVID-19 in the last 24-hour reporting period. Hospitalizations rose by six to 445 and there were eight more deaths bringing the total to 331. Pulaski County reported the most new cases with 111. Washington and Benton Counties had 68 and 36 new cases, respectively, and Sebastian County had an additional 52. The state conducted 6,563 tests, which means a total of 75,445 tests have been conducted this month, less than half of the governor's 200,000 test goal for July. Arkansas Secretary of Health Nate Smith said the public health lab completed a record 1,832 tests today and there are plans to double the test processing capacity to provide faster turnaround times as commercial labs are struggling to keep up as cases surge across the country. Stephanie Williams with ADH also provided an update on hiring hundreds more contact tracers for the state. To watch the full briefing, click here.
At 75,000 Tests, Arkansas Is Less Than Halfway to July Testing Goal
