Arkansas COVID-19 Update: Death Toll Reaches 7,000, Hospital Beds Out of Capacity

COVID-19 has claimed the lives of more than 7,000 individuals in Arkansas since the pandemic started, according to state health authorities. According to a published article in KAIT, citing the Arkansas Department of Health, noted 7,003 fatalities on Thursday compared to Wednesday’s 34 deaths.

Five fatalities were recorded in the surrounding counties: two in White County and one in Baxter, Crittenden, and Woodruff. There are 263 more active cases as of Thursday. The numbers bring the total number of new cases to 458,234.

The number of active cases has decreased in most surrounding counties, but on Thursday, 32 new active cases were recorded in Mississippi County. There were 16 new active cases in Jackson County, and 15 each in Randolph and Sharp counties.

Moreover, hospitalizations were down 23 to 1,290 on Thursday with 355 patients still on ventilators. Health officials said that out of 1,140 beds in the state, just 19 ICU beds were available.

Read Also: New Poll Shows 33% Of Americans Do Not Want To Get Vaccinated, US Companies May Mandate Vaccination

Scientists discovered a new mutation called C.1.2 COVID-19 Variant. (Photo: Business Standard)

COVID-19: Millions Of People Die Due To Different Types of Pandemic, CDC Says

In a published article in UALR, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the United States said that 50 million people died globally due to the Spanish flu, including 675,000 fatalities in the United States. The CDC recorded 641,725 COVID-19 fatalities in the United States as of Thursday. According to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas, the prevailing hypothesis regarding the Spanish flu is that it began in rural Haskell County, Kansas, where people lived near to their pigs and poultry.

Men were conscripted and sent to huge training camps before being sent to Europe when the United States entered World War I on April 6, 1917, and many of those camps unintentionally served as major spreader sites for the new virus. Sources also obtained by UALR claim that at least 7,000 people died from the Spanish flu in Arkansas, although the figure may have been higher.

Related Article: Arkansas COVID-19 Update: Hospitalization Rates Hit At 100, Bed Shortage Persists

Arkansas Secretary of Health Dr. Jose Romero said the loss of so many lives is even more tragic when considering we now have several COVID vaccines. Romero unfortunately said they will keep tallying the COVID-19 pandemic’s death toll in Arkansas until the existing vaccinations are widely accepted.

Dr. Cam Patterson, chancellor and CEO of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) said during the Talk Business & Politics that COVID-19 has claimed the lives of more Arkansans than any other disease since 1900. He went on to say that the globe is fighting a public health battle, and that people are losing.

As the nation approaches the autumn and winter seasons, Patterson said, vaccine reluctance and a growing fatigue with protective measures like masking, hand washing, and social distance are leading to a strategic defeat and more fatalities. Hence, he is urging every people in Arkansas to join the fight against COVID-19.