Garland County’s COVID-19 statistics are continuing their upward trend, but not as rapidly as previous weeks, according to County Health Officer Dr. Gene Shelby.

The Hot Springs/Garland County COVID-19 Task Force is only meeting as needed during the summer months, but Shelby provides his weekly COVID-19 update electronically to the group.

For the week of June 20 – 27, there were 150 new cases reported, compared to the previous weeks’ 139 and 67. The number of active cases rose to 250, as of Monday, June 28, up from the previous weeks’ 202 and 120.

Representatives from CHI St. Vincent and National Park Medical Center reported having a total of 16 COVID-19 patients, up from nine last week. There are three in intensive care.  

“Our numbers are significantly higher than this week last year. Hopefully, we won’t see the huge surge that we experienced last July. Time will tell,” said Shelby.

There was one COVID-related death reported, bringing the cumulative total to 513.

For continued COVID-19 updates...