LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced that Arkansas has set new records for active cases and hospitalizations related to COVID-19 during his news briefing Friday afternoon.

According to data from the Arkansas Department of Health, Arkansas currently has 101,141 active cases, an increase of 3,512 within the last 24 hours. There were 13,073 new cases added to the state count in the last day, moving the total number of cases during the pandemic to 726,716.

Hutchinson also noted that new ADH figures show that hospitalizations increased by 18 over the previous day, pushing the state total of COVID-related hospitalizations to 1,658. He said eight more Arkansans were on ventilators than the prior day and that the capacity in Arkansas hospitals is decreasing as the state faces an upsurge in COVID-19 cases.

The governor provided a figure that show that two ICU beds and 42 medical beds have become available to those needed.

New figures from the ADH show that there were an additional 14 deaths in the state, raising the pandemic’s total of deaths to 9,484.

Health officials from Baptist Health Medical Center announced that Friday marks a high for hospitalizations, with 138 hospitalized. It was stated that the government has provided money to help open 63 additional beds for Baptist Health statewide, however, 36 of those beds already have been taken by COVID patients.

Hutchinson discussed how the state is working on making at-home COVID-19 test available. He noted that 1.5 million tests have been received in Arkansas and 370,000 are available at local health units.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, 3,842,008 Arkansans have been vaccinated, which is an increase of 5,155. Data also show that 1,533,728 Arkansans are fully vaccinated and 371,748 are partially vaccinated Hutchinson noted that those vaccinations numbers make up 67% of Arkansas residents.

Since vaccines have become available in the state, data shows that more than 75% of COVID-19 cases are unvaccinated. Hutchinson reported that 84% of those hospitalized due to COVID-19 are unvaccinated and more than 84% of deaths were unvaccinated.

Due to the rising COVID-19 cases, 108 school districts had to close to on-site instruction last week, however, this week that number has decreased to 49 school districts.

While the drop in the number of schools out of class is a welcome site, Arkansas Secretary of Health Dr. Jose Romero noted vaccination efforts in Arkansans ages 5-11 is only at 11.5%, well below the national average.