Pandemic numbers hold steady; even with two days of delayed reporting, new-case average continues downward trend

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

By Al Cross
Kentucky Health News

Measures of the pandemic held steady in Kentucky on Wednesday.

The state reported 1,028 new cases of the novel coronavirus, including 300 from Monday and Tuesday that "could not be confirmed and announced until today due to a technical issue on the reporting platform," a news release from Gov. Andy Beshear's office said.

That raised the seven-day rolling average of new cases to 568, 30 more than Tuesday but still lower than any other day since Sept. 10. Beshear had said Monday that limited reporting due to testing-lab closures on Easter weekend would leave the true course of the pandemic in the state unclear until today.

“Today’s case report reminds us that even though we’ve come so far in the fight against Covid-19, this isn’t over yet,” Beshear said Wednesday. “Please, if you’re 16 or older, get vaccinated. Keep masking up in public spaces even if you have been vaccinated. None of us want to throw away our progress.”

Vaccination sites and free transportation options to and from vaccination appointments can be seen at vaccine.ky.gov. A list of vaccination sites with openings this week is at vaccinemap.ky.gov.

The percentage of Kentuckians testing positive in the last seven days declined slightly, to 2.87%. The percentage has been between 2.8% and 3.08% for the last 18 days, an unusual run of stability. The high was 12.45% on Jan. 10, around the time the state was setting daily and weekly records for new cases.

The statewide rate of daily new cases for the last seven days rose to 9.77 per 100,000 residents. Counties with rates more than double the statewide rate were Simpson, 45.4; Harlan, 33.5; Whitley, 31.5; Powell, 31.2; McCreary, 29.8; Menifee, 28.6; Robertson, 27.1; Floyd, 23.7; Mason, 22.6; Morgan, 22.5; Knox, 22.5; Bracken, 20.6; and Bath, 19.4.

Kentucky's seven-day rate of new case was 34th among the states, according to the pandemic data tracker of The New York Times.

Counties with more than 10 new cases were Jefferson, 137; Fayette, 65; Laurel. 39; Warren, 34; Boone, 33; Hardin, 32; Kenton, 29; Christian, 25; Whitley, 25; Daviess, 22; Madison, 22; McCracken, 18; Scott, 18; Harlan, 16; Logan, 16; Campbell, Casey and Grayson, 15; Bullitt, Hopkins and Knox, 14; Barren and Montgomery, 13; Clinton, Floyd and Pulaski, 12; and Pike, 11.

The state added 14 deaths to its list of Covid-19 fatalities, raising the death toll to 6,198. Ten were from regular health-department reports and four were from the ongoing audit of death certificates.

The 10 regularly reported fatalities included six deaths from this month: a Daviess County man, 64; a Henderson County man, 63; a Jefferson County woman, 45; a Jefferson County man, 93; a Mercer County woman, 67; and a Nelson County man, 70.. Three were from Laurel County in January: a 94-year-old woman and two men, 51 and 77.

Kentucky hospitals reported 383 Covid-19 patients (seven more than Tuesday), 112 of them in intensive care (down 4) and 66 on ventilators (up 9).

The four deaths found by death-certificate audit were all in late November: a Lee County woman, 82; a Union County woman, 89; and two Warren County men, 82 and 83.

In other pandemic news Wednesday:

• The highly contagious B.1.1.7 variant first identified in the United Kingdom is now the most common strain of the virus in the United States, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky said. She said the variants is more transmissible and infectious among younger people and is partly responsible for rising case numbers in recent weeks.