Health experts monitoring COVID-19 metrics to determine where surge stands with Arkansas
Experts say numbers over the next week will give a better idea about when the surge could fall off.
Active COVID-19 cases are down several thousand from last week, when Arkansas totaled an increase of more than 14,000 cases in a day. However, hospitalizations hit a record high recently. Thursday, the Natural State saw a single-day increase of about 6,000 cases.”If our numbers keep trending at that level, we are still in the midst of a surge,” said Mark Williams, dean of the Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health at UAMS.According to Fayetteville City Health Officer Dr. Marti Sharkey, the number of cases and hospitalizations over the next week will be a good indicator as to what we can expect with this surge moving forward.”I don’t have a timeline because COVID has taught me not to have one, but we do expect cases to go down and once they do start going down we do expect them to go down pretty sharply,” she said.Though hospitalizations declined by 31 Arkansans Thursday, Williams told 40/29 News that hospitals are still largely full, and health care workers are stretched thin because of how omicron is spreading.” a goodly amount of personnel who are out sick or in quarantine. Under those circumstances, we are struggling with a shortage of staff on a number of levels,” he said.Click here to find an at-home COVID-19 test.
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. —
Active COVID-19 cases are down several thousand from last week, when Arkansas totaled an increase of more than 14,000 cases in a day. However, hospitalizations hit a record high recently. Thursday, the Natural State saw a single-day increase of about 6,000 cases.
“If our numbers keep trending at that level, we are still in the midst of a surge,” said Mark Williams, dean of the Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health at UAMS.
According to Fayetteville City Health Officer Dr. Marti Sharkey, the number of cases and hospitalizations over the next week will be a good indicator as to what we can expect with this surge moving forward.
“I don’t have a timeline because COVID has taught me not to have one, but we do expect cases to go down and once they do start going down we do expect them to go down pretty sharply,” she said.
Though hospitalizations declined by 31 Arkansans Thursday, Williams told 40/29 News that hospitals are still largely full, and health care workers are stretched thin because of how omicron is spreading.
“[UAMS has] a goodly amount of personnel who are out sick or in quarantine. Under those circumstances, we are struggling with a shortage of staff on a number of levels,” he said.
