ARKANSAS, USA — 455 new cases of the coronavirus (COVID-19) were reported Thursday (May 21) in Arkansas, making it the largest single-day increase yet.
As of Thursday afternoon, there are 5,458 confirmed positive cases of COVID-19 in Arkansas since March, with 1,433 active cases currently.
Governor Asa Hutchinson and state health department officials said they were concerned with the spike.
Out of the 455 new cases, 229 are from federal correctional facilities in Arkansas.
Dr. Nate Smith with the Arkansas Department of Health said these are cases they were aware of but had finally been added to the official number.
The rest of the cases are sprinkled across Arkansas.
In Northwest Arkansas, Washington and Benton Counties had the biggest jump in recorded cases overnight. Washington County saw an additional 26 new cases and Benton County had 27. Both counties have seen the highest number of testing done in Northwest Arkansas and the River Valley.
Testing has ramped up majorly over the last week. Arkansas has averaged 3,000 new tests daily in the last week. 2,500 over the last month. Compare this to just over 1,000 a day through March and the first half of April.
