Following the recent holiday weekend and the introduction of the Delta variant of Covid-19 to the United States, positive case numbers are rising quickly.
Arkansas has seen an increase in case numbers in all areas according to the Arkansas Department of Health’s most recently released numbers.
More than 1,000 new Covid-19 cases were reported in the last 24 hours upping the states total to number of cases both active and past combined to 353,095.
Active cases increased by more than 500 to 5,192 with deaths up by seven to a total of 5,993.
Hospitalizations are also up with more than 400 hospitalized due to the virus and approximately 80 Arkansans are on ventilators.
As cases rise, so do the number of vaccinated Arkansans, however; Governor Asa Hutchinson said vaccination rates are not high enough to stop the spread.
Although not widely discussed at this time in the United States, the Lambda variant, found initially in Peru in the fall of 2020 is also becoming a cause for concern as it accounts for a large percent of cases in South America.
Cases of the Lambda variant have been discovered in approximately 30 countries including the United States and Canada according to GISAID.
Variants listed on the CDC’s website are: Alpha, originally detected in the United Kingdom and recognised in the United States in December of 2020; Beta, initially detected in South Africa in December of 2020 and in the United States in January of 2021; Gamma, initially discovered in individuals traveling from Brazil who had been tested at an airport in Japan in January, it was also found in the United States at that time and most recently, the Delta variant, found in March of this year in the United States but initially found in India in December of 2020.
As of June 28, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has not yet added Lambda to the list of detected variants in the United States.
If you have concerns or questions regarding Covid-19, speak to a health professional.
Lauren is a an award-winning journalist who decided after 10 years of newspaper experience to venture out. Hallmark Times was born.
