The state reported 2,500 new COVID cases Tuesday, seven deaths, and a positivity rate growing to 11.05%.
Boone County reported 62 new cases, Kenton County 56, and Campbell County 28. Kenton County has now joined Boone County in the red zone.
Kenton County is third on the list of most deaths from COVID — 210. Boone has lost 152 and Campbell 80 to the disease.
“This is the fastest and steepest rise in cases of the entire pandemic,” said Kentucky Department for Public Health Commissioner Dr. Steven Stack. “We had a 43% increase in hospitalized COVID cases in Kentucky in one week.”
“We had a 32% increase in the number of hospitalized COVID patients in the intensive care units in one week. We had a 61% increase in number of COVID-19 patients on a ventilator in just one week. At this rate, in two weeks we will blow past our previous peaks.
“As of today, 15 hospitals that we are aware of have reported staffing shortages. Out of about 96 acute care hospitals in the state, that’s more than 15% of the hospitals having staffing shortages. We must take this seriously and pull together like we have before.”
The number of people who have received at least one vaccine dose in Kentucky: 2,376,891.
Currently, there are 1,251 Kentuckians hospitalized, with 339 in intensive care and 168 on ventilators.
Dr. Stack said on July 9 Kentucky had a seven-day average of 4.75 new cases per day per 100,000 people. On August 9, Kentucky had a seven-day average of 43.83 new cases per day per 100,000 people.
“For hospitalizations, we are seeing the most significant, severe slope, meaning the rate of growth, that we have ever seen. We are doubling the number of Kentuckians hospitalized with COVID-19 every two weeks,” said Gov. Beshear.
The Governor encouraged all Kentuckians 12 and older to get a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine and then sign up for a chance to win $1 million or a full college scholarship at ShotAtAMillion.ky.gov. Two $1 million winners and 10 full-scholarship winners were announced on July 2 and July 30. On Aug. 27, another $1 million winner and five more full-scholarship winners will be announced.
As hospitals around the state and region agreed to vaccine mandates for employees, protests cropped up yesterday around the region, including at St. Elizabeth Healthcare in Edgewood.
Some called the mandated vaccines a matter of “medical freedom.” And others said more protests are being organized.
St. Elizabeth was one of 11 hospital systems in Kentucky to announce it would require its workforce to be vaccinated for COVID-19. Six major hospital systems in the Tri-State announced last week that employees would need vaccines unless they have a medical or religious exemption.
