State hits the White House red zone for coronavirus cases, but has fewer counties in red or yellow zones than previous week

Table from White House Coronavirus Task Force report; for a larger version, click on it.

The latest report from the White House Coronavirus Task Force puts Kentucky in the task force's worst danger zone for number of cases, but has fewer counties in that zone and the two others than it did the previous week.

"Kentucky is in the red zone for cases, indicating 101 or more new cases per 100,000 population last week, with the 21st highest rate in the country," the report says. "Kentucky had 111 new cases per 100,000 population in the last week, compared to a national average of 93 per 100,000."

The state is much better off in the percentage of people testing positive for the virus during the week, landing in the yellow zone.

The report covers the seven days from Saturday, Sept. 19, through Friday, Sept. 25. It puts 56 of the state's 120 counties into one of the danger zones, down from 67 the previous week.

The count of red-zone counties fell from 17 to 14, while the orange-zone count rose from 20 to 22. The biggest change was in the yellow zone, which fell from 30 counties to 20. (The table above shows only the top 12 counties in each zone, but all are listed below the table.)

The report recommends that the state "rapidly scale up testing" to identify infected people, "with support for isolation to reduce community transmission." It says testing should target areas with persistently high levels of transmission "and rapidly increasing incidence from east to northwestern parts of the state."

Gov. Andy Beshear was asked via email if he plans to implement those recommendations, but he did not respond at his Monday news briefing and his office did not reply.

White House Coronavirus Task Force maps; for a larger image, click on it.