Governor: New COVID-19 cases ‘steadily increasing’

JONESBORO, Ark. (KAIT) - Saying the latest COVID-19 numbers should put everyone in Arkansas “on alert,” Governor Asa Hutchinson announced Monday that 21 more residents had died.

The Arkansas Department of Health reported 612 new cases on Monday, Oct. 26, bringing the total of active cases to 9,571.

Once again, Craighead was among the list of top counties reporting new cases:

Pulaski-53
Washington-45
Craighead-42
Sebastian-37
Benton-30

The number of people hospitalized rose by 16 to 649; 102 people are on ventilators, 7 more than Sunday.

An additional 21 people have died in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of dead to 1,833.

“These numbers should put everyone in Arkansas on alert,” Hutchinson stated in a Monday news release. “We are not having a steep escalation of cases but we do see the new cases steadily increasing in the last few weeks.”

Hutchinson said the increase in hospitalizations and deaths was a “sober reminder” of the current threat.

“United, we will have success,” he said. “But it takes everyone to fight hard in the coming weeks.”