Well under 3% of coronavirus tests in Kentucky are positive; daily average of new virus cases also keeps falling

Kentucky Health News graph, from state's initial, unadjusted daily reports

Ky. Health News graph, from state reports

By Al Cross

Kentucky Health News

Major measures of the pandemic in Kentucky continued to decline Saturday.

The percentage of Kentuckians testing positive for the coronavirus in the last seven days fell to 2.83%, one of the lowest levels since testing became widely available almost a year ago. The average has fallen for the last 10 days, from 3.57%.

The state reported 488 new cases of the virus, lowering its seven-day rolling average to 503, the lowest since last July. The average has fallen for 11 consecutive days. So has the statewide rate of daily new cases over the last seven days; it is 8.68 per 100,000 residents, the lowest since the state started reporting the figure in mid-December.

Counties with rates more than double the statewide rate are almost all rural: Webster, 40.8; Rockcastle, 31.7; Owen, 27.5; Adair, 25.3; Estill, 23.3; Powell, 20.8; Lewis, 20.4; Union, 19.9; Casey, 19.4; Henderson, 19; Morgan, 18.2; Montgomery, 17.8; and Taylor, 17.7.

Counties with more than 10 new cases Saturday were Jefferson, 113; Fayette, 28; McCracken, 16; Daviess, 15; Henderson, 14; Boone, 13; and Johnson, Kenton, Pulaski and Warren, 12.

Kentucky hospitals reported 403 Covid-19 patients, one more than Friday, with 115 of them (up two) in intensive care and 51 of those (up five) on a ventilator.

Two of the 10 hospital-readiness regions reported more than 80% of their intensive-care beds in use: Lake Cumberland, at 93.33%, and Barren River, at 81.48%. Only 13% and 6% of the respective regions' beds were occupied by Covid-19 patients.