LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) – Arkansas reported 42 new COVID-19 deaths Monday and its biggest one-day spike in coronavirus hospitalizations since the pandemic began.
The Department of Health reported 81 new COVID-19 hospitalizations, bringing the state’s total to 1,220. The department said 451 of those patients are under intensive care and 250 are on ventilators.
The state’s coronavirus hospitalizations are nearing the high of 1,371 set in January. Gov. Asa Hutchinson pleaded with residents to get vaccinated, noting that nearly all of the hospitalizations the state has seen are among the unvaccinated.
“Do your part to help,” Hutchinson tweeted. “Hospitals are full & the only remedy is for more Arkansans to be vaccinated.”
The number of people who have died from COVID-19 in the state now totals 6,199.
Arkansas’ cases and hospitalizations have climbed in recent weeks because of the delta variant of the virus and the state’s low vaccination rate. Arkansas ranks third in the country for new cases per capita, according to figures compiled by Johns Hopkins University researchers.
Lawmakers are preparing to meet this week to consider Hutchinson’s request to allow K-12 public schools to require masks. The Republican governor in April signed legislation banning mask mandates by schools and other government agencies.
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