Coronavirus numbers continue on a rough plateau in Kentucky; officials cite safety and effectiveness of vaccine for kids

Kentucky Health News graph, from state data

By Melissa Patrick and Al Cross
Kentucky Health News

With Wednesday's coronavirus metrics about the same as Tuesday's, the pandemic in Kentucky remains on a rough plateau.

The state reported 1,669 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, bringing its seven-day average down to by just four, to 1,212. Of today's cases, 25% were in Kentuckians 18 and younger. 

The percentage of Kentuckians testing positive for the virus in the last seven days is 5.05%, the same level that was reported Tuesday. 

Kentucky hospitals reported 762 Covid-19 patients, 14 fewer than Tuesday; 232 of them ion intensive care, down seven; and 137 Covid-19 patients in need of mechanical ventilation, up four.  

Fewer hospitals are using more than 80% of their intensive-care capacity. The daily report shows only five of the state's 10 hospital regions above that level, but four were above 90%. 

Kentucky Health News graph from state data

The state's seven-day infection rate is 22.19 daily cases per 100,000 residents. Counties with rates more than double that rate are Russell, 95.6; Green, 94; Clinton, 75.5; Adair, 71.4; Powell, 54.3; Jackson, 50.4; and Trigg, 44.9. Forty-six of the 120 counties are in the red zone, for those with more than 25 daily cases per 100,000. 

Kentucky's infection rate ranks 25th among the states, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data analyzed by The New York Times. 

The deaths of 22 more more Kentuckians were officially attributed to Covid-19, bringing the pandemic death toll to 9,856. 

Wednesday was the first day that children between the ages of 5 and 11 can get the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine. Evelyn Schultz of WLEX-TV tells the story of 11-year-old Wyatt who, along with his siblings, was one of the first in his age group to get it. "It didn't even hurt!," he said. 

"It's a really big deal" to have a vaccine for kids 5 to 11 because many infections are occurring in this age group, National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins told Andrea Mitchell of NBC News. He said the vaccine "should make it more feasible for kids to say in school without having outbreaks."

Collins said federal officials are making a big effort to get the vaccine to pediatricians because "that's where parents are used to taking their kids. . . . We want to be sure it's not hard for parents to get their kids immunized."

Asked what he would say to the many parents who are reluctant to get their children vaccinated, Collins said, "I hope parents who are still in the wait-and-see will have a chance to look at the data . . . There were no serious side effects" in the clinical trials.

The trials weren't large enough to nail down the rate of myocarditis, a heart condition that has been found in mostly young, vaccinated males, but Collins said it happens in 1 of 10,000 cases, and the disease is "easily treatable" and reversible. He said that small risk should be balanced with the "substantial" risk from Covid-19, which has hospitalized more than 1,000 kids 5 to 11 and killed 145, and also poses the risk of multisystem inflammatory syndrome, while the vaccination risk is "mostly limited to sore arms."

"Here's where we have some work to do with many parents," Collins acknowledged, but said they may come around, noting that when vaccines for adults first came out, only 34% said they wanted one but their vaccination rate is now more than double that.

President Biden touted the vaccine at a news conference. "For parents all over this country this is a day of relief and celebration," no longer "having to worry what's coming on" if a child develops a cough or a sniffle, he said. "Children make up one-quarter of the cases in this country, and while rare, children can get very sick from Covid-19."