The number of COVID-19 cases, deaths and positivity rate in Kentucky all rose to varying degrees last week, but on a positive note, nine more counties are in the “green” compared to two weeks ago.
During the week ending Sunday, 15,652 new cases were reported, up nearly 1,000 cases from the 14,654 reported to the Kentucky Department for Public Health the previous week. The new cases give the state 69,937 new cases over the last five weeks (13,987 per week).
Kentucky has now had 1,489,579 COVID cases reported since the beginning of the pandemic.
There were 67 COVID-related deaths during the week ending Sunday, well up from the 45 deaths reported two weeks ago. Over the last five weeks, 282 Kentuckians have perished from the virus (56 deaths per week).
In total, 16,464 Kentuckians have died from COVID or complications from the virus.
The COVID positivity rate increased just over a half-percentage point from 17.89 percent two weeks ago to 18.41 percent.
There were 623 people hospitalized last week, up from the 602 patients hospitalized two weeks ago. There were 74 patients in intensive care last week, down from 89 ICU patients. There were 27 people on a ventilator last week, a decrease from the 33 patients on ventilators two weeks ago.
There are 83 Kentucky counties in the “red,” (three more than two weeks ago), according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, indicating a “high” spread of the virus.
Twenty-eight counties are in the “yellow,” signaling a “medium” spread, and nine counties, including Grayson and Edmonson, are in the “green,” representing a “low” spread of the virus (bordering Hart and Ohio counties remain in the “red”).
Two weeks ago there were zero counties in the “green.”
By Ken Howlett, News Director
Contact Ken at ken@k105.com
