7/15/2020
Benton Courier

Total cases of COVID-19 have now topped 30,000 in the state of Arkansas.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson said during his daily briefing on Wednesday the state saw 564 new cases in the last 24 hours, bringing the total to 30,297.

However, recoveries increased more than new cases. There were 679 recoveries. The total who have recovered since the start of the pandemic is 23,525.

Hospitalizations increase by 13 to 458 with 94 on ventilators. The number of deaths went up by four to 335.

The top counties with new cases are Pulaski with 78, Sebastien with 52, Washington with 46 and Benton with 38.

The state received results for 5,146 tests bring July's total to 80,862.

Secretary of Health Dr. Nate Smith reminded people about the long-term affects of the virus. He said 90 percent of those who have been hospitalized continue to experience symptoms after they are considered recovered.

U.S. Congressman French Hill spoke on the letter he and the other federal delegates sent to Vice President Mike Pence encouraging his support for commercial labs to increase capacity.

He said he is advocating the use of the Defense Production Act to increase supplies.

Saline County has had 512 cases of COVID-19 with 150 currently positive, 359 recoveries and three deaths.

Across the nation, there have been 3,465,031 cases with 1,049,098 recoveries and 136,940 deaths.

More information about today's briefing will be in Thursday's edition of The Saline Courier.