12 new COVID-19 cases found in Bradley County in the last 24 hours

Within the last 24 hours, Bradley County has seen another spike in COVID-19 cases, with 12 newly discovered positives being reported since Wednesday, bringing the total number of active cases in the County to 52.

This comes as Governor Asa Hutchinson noted another 735 positive cases statewide in the last 24 hours.

Arkansas has unfortunately seen 515 deaths as the result of the virus.  Some readers on social media have downplayed the number of dead in comparison to the State's overall population.  However, the number of dead from the virus is the equivalent to losing 65.86% of the entire population of Hermitage.  That's quite a few families now without loved ones statewide.

111 Arkansans are currently on ventilators, and 514 are currently hospitalized.  To date, 47,028 people in Arkansas have contracted the virus.  Fortunately 39,555 have recored.  That's 84% recovered to date.  However, the long term effects are still very much unknown, but some research suggests problems could come for some who have recovered from the initial brunt of the virus.

Two German studies, recently published in the peer-reviewed journal JAMA Cardiology,  discovered some alarming issues that could arise from COVID-19 in survivors.  Damage to the heart appears initially to be one of the biggest concerns.

The study did caution however that the "findings indicate the need for ongoing investigation of the long-term cardiovascular consequences of COVID-19."

The bottom line is, there are still a lot of unknowns.  The virus has been known to be in humans for just over seven months, a very short period of time in the big scheme of things.

During today's state COVID-19 press conference, the flu was also a topic of discussion, with officials urging citizens to get the flu shot in preparation for this fall and winter.  "You don't want to have the flu and COVID-19 at the same time," said Dr. Jennifer Dillaha, the state's medical director of immunizations.

While many opponents of COVID-19 precautionary measures have said that it's no worse than the flu, it's interesting to note that statewide last season, the state saw 118 flu-related deaths.  Again, COVID-19 has to-date taken the lives of 515 Arkansans.

Below are Bradley County's COVID-19 statistics as of August 6, 2020:

Total Positive: 167

Active Positive: 52

Recovered: 112

Deaths: 3

Negatives: 2,119