LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - Arkansas on Friday reported 47 more coronavirus deaths as the number of people hospitalized because of the virus continued to drop.
The Department of Health said the state’s COVID-19 deaths since the pandemic began now total 4,831. The number of people in the hospital because of COVID-19 dropped by 45 to 951. Thursday marked the first day the state’s virus hospitalizations had been below 1,000 since November.
The state’s virus cases rose by 1,707 to 292,563.
“With a decline in hospitalizations, we remind ourselves that watching our distance and wearing a mask does make a difference,” Gov. Asa Hutchinson said in a statement. “Please keep the guidelines in mind as we go into the weekend.”
The state reported that 284,928 of the 519,800 doses Arkansas has received of the coronavirus vaccine have been given.
Twenty-four percent of the state’s 8,829 hospital beds and nearly 7% of its 1,182 intensive care unit beds are available, according to the Department of Health. There are 299 COVID-19 patients in ICUs around the state.
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