In a further indication of the coronavirus’s accelerating spread in Arkansas, the state’s count of cases rose Wednesday by more than 800 for the second day in a row as the number of virus patients in the state’s hospitals jumped back up to 300.

The state’s death toll from the virus, as tracked by the Department of Health, rose by three, to 8,595.

Topping the increase of 814 on Tuesday, the state’s case count rose Wednesday by 828.

Other than those two days, the count hadn’t risen by more than 800 on a single day since Oct. 9.

After falling to a nearly five-month low a day earlier, the number of people hospitalized with covid-19 in Arkansas jumped Wednesday by 24, to 300, its highest level in almost two weeks.

“It looks like we are at the beginning of a new surge,” said Dr. Jennifer Dillaha, the Health Department’s chief medical officer.

As people make plans for Thanksgiving next week, she said she would encourage people to “keep their gatherings small and limit them to situations, like in a home, where you can have good ventilation and people can spread out.”

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