Ky. Covid-19 cases dropped 15% this week, but the share among people 18 and younger stayed high, and state ranks first in nation

New York Times map, adapted by Ky. Health News; for interactive version with data, click here.

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

New coronavirus cases dropped again in Kentucky last week even as the state's rate of new cases remained first in the nation. 

The state Department for Public Health report for the latest Monday-to-Sunday period said there were 3,392 new coronavirus cases in Kentucky last week, or 484 per day. That's nearly 15% less than the week prior, when the state reported 568 new cases per day. 

Covid-19 cases among Kentuckians 18 and younger remains high. This week's report showed 39%, or 1,329, of the new cases were in people 18 and younger. Last week the youth share was 54% and the week before that it was 37%. One of the best ways to protect children against Covid-19 is to get them vaccinated.  

And as winter approaches, Kentuckians 12 and older also need to make sure they are fully vaccinated and boosted with the latest booster that also protects against the latest Omicron subvariants of the virus. 

The Washington Post reports that only 4% of eligible Americans have received the new booster shot, leaving many susceptible to the virus and creating the potential for an onslaught of unnecessary coronavirus-related deaths winter.  

"Early data shows that just over 11 million Americans — or about 4 percent of those eligible — have received the new bivalent booster shots. A third of adults say they eventually plan to get those shots," the authors write, citing Kaiser Family Foundation polling.

The share of Kentuckians testing positive for the coronavirus in the last seven days was 7.91%, up just a bit from the 7.7% reported in the prior week's report. The figure does not include at-home tests. 

Kentucky hospitals reported 287 patients with Covid-19, down 40 from the week before; 46 Covid-19 patients in intensive care, up seven; and 13 of them on mechanical ventilation, down seven. 

The state's new-case rate was 10.25 per 100,000 residents, down from 11.85 a week earlier. The top 10 counties on the state report were Letcher, 43.1; Owsley, 35.6; Knott, 34.7; Perry, 29.4; Leslie, 21.7; Robertson, 20.3; Washington, 20.1; Boyd, 18.7; Floyd, 18.5; and Clinton, 18.2.

The New York Times ranks Kentucky's infection rate first in the U.S., showing a 7% increase in the last 14 days. It says Harlan, Perry, Knott, Letcher and McCreary counties were among the the nation's top 10 new-case rates in the nation in the last seven days. (The Times's figures differ from state figures because of differences in data gathering and processing.) The other half of the top 10 were Virginia counties next to or near Kentucky.

The state attributed 81 more deaths to Covid-19 last week, increasing the pandemic's toll in Kentucky to
17,111.