Positive-test rate rises; state has more new cases than last Sun.

State Department for Public Health map, relabeled by Kentucky Health News; click it to enlarge

By Al Cross

Kentucky Health News

The waning of the pandemic slowed in Kentucky Sunday, illustrating public-health experts' worries of another surge before the novel coronavirus is beaten.

The percentage of Kentuckians testing positive for the virus is the last seven days rose, the number of new cases was higher than the previous Sunday, and Kentucky's new-case ranking among the states rose two notches.

The positive-test rate is 4.12%. It was 4% Saturday, after dropping for all but one of the previous 16 days and generally falling for almost two months.

The state reported 526 new cases of the virus; the number last Sunday was 509. The seven-day rolling average of new cases fell by 21, to 874, but the state's new-case rate is 14th in the nation after falling to 16th on Saturday, according to the daily compilation by The New York Times.

Hospitalizations in Kentucky for Covid-19 fell by 33, to 558, and the number in intensive-care units fell by 15, to 156. But the number of ICU patients on ventilators rose to 82, or 53%; Saturday they numbered 72, or 42%.

Pressure on ICU beds in the Lake Cumberland hospital readiness region eased; 82% were in use, after weeks in which the figure was near or above 90%. The easternmost region, from Lee to Pike counties, was the only other one above 80%; 87% of its ICU beds are in use, but only 12% for Covid-19 patients.

The state listed 13 more deaths from Covid-19, all confirmed after review, raising Kentucky's pandemic toll to 4,819. In the last 14 days, the state has averaged 26.6 deaths per day, a figure that has varied little the last two weeks.

The state's daily report shows that Black Kentuckians' proportions of cases and deaths have declined to 8% and 8.2% of the totals, respectively, less than their 8.5% share of the state's population. For months, the rates were near or above double African Americans' population share.

Lyon County, site of many cases in state prisons, leads the nation in the rate of new cases over the last seven days, according to The Washington Post. The state's report says Lyon's rate is 358 cases per 100,000 residents and the statewide rate is 15.2. Other counties with rates more than twice the statewide rate were Rowan, 39.1; Owsley, 38.8; Clay, 35.2; Knox, 34.9; Simpson, 33.1; McCreary, 32.3; and Clinton, 32.2.

Counties with more than five new cases Sunday were: Jefferson, 106; Fayette, 59; Lyon, 30; Kenton, 16; Warren, 16; Daviess, 15; Scott, 14; Franklin, 11; Jessamine, 11; Boone, Bullitt, Hardin and Laurel, 10; Oldham, 9; Campbell, 8; Bell, Clay, McCracken and Nelson, 7; and Logan, 6.