By Tom Latek
Kentucky Today
Kentucky has reached another milestone in the COVID-19 pandemic, as the report released Monday afternoon by the Department for Public Health shows there have now been exactly 18,000 COVID-related deaths in the state.
There were 4,065 new cases of the coronavirus in the past seven days. This compares to 5,665 on the Feb. 13 report and marks the second week in a row with a lower case count. Those 18 and younger made up 887 of the new cases, a drop from 1,037 a week ago, but still above the 880 in the Jan. 23 report.
There have now been 1,704,713 confirmed cases of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Kentucky, since the first one was reported in March 2020.
Fewer new cases overall meant there were only three counties that had more than 100 cases; Fayette reported 892, Jefferson had 699 and Warren 197. Last week four counties had 100 or more cases and there were five during the week before that.
State public health officials have said the number of positive cases is likely undercounted, since many people who have a positive result from a home test do not report it to their local health department, if they do not require medical treatment or were asymptomatic.
Kentucky’s positivity rate, which is based on the number of tests other than those from unreported home kits, has now fallen for six consecutive weeks, and currently stands at 9.92%. That is 0.01% less than last week and down 0.13% from two weeks ago.
The hospital census was one area that did not see a drop in the Feb. 13 report. There are currently 332 Kentuckians in the hospital, with 50 in intensive care and 23 on a ventilator. That ended a four consecutive week stretch of fewer patients overall, with four more in the ICU this week and the same number on a ventilator.
The other area that did not see a drop was COVID-related deaths. There were 61 new deaths reported, up from 49 last week and 52 during the previous week. The pandemic total in Kentucky now stands at an even 18,000.
For more information on Kentucky’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the CDC’s community levels in the state by county, and more, go to http://kycovid19.ky.gov/.