Governor Hutchinson Provides Wednesday, Dec. 16 COVID-19 Update

LITTLE ROCK – Governor Asa Hutchinson provided Wednesday, Dec. 16 update on Arkansas's COVID-19 response.

In its Wednesday update, the Arkansas Department of Health reported 2,306 new cases; 20,774 active cases; 1,079 hospitalized, which is up 9 from Tuesday; 184 on ventilators, which is down 6 from Tuesday; deaths added today, 58, for a total of 3,074; a total of 191,504 cases; 144,621 recoveries; PCR tests, 8,885; antigen tests, 4,696.

The Health Department reported that the top counties for new cases are Pulaski, 242; Washington, 159; Benton, 153; Craighead, 110; and Faulkner, 103.

Governor Hutchinson released the following statement on today’s COVID-19 numbers:

“Yesterday was a new record in antigen testing in Arkansas, and new cases are running flat week over week. Regretfully, we also saw another record in new deaths, with 58 deaths reported yesterday. We are distributing the vaccine across the state for our health care workers, and we continue to see high levels of community spread."