A nonprofit publication of the Kentucky Center for Public Service Journalism

State reports 4,240 new COVID cases, 20 deaths, 12.3% positivity — ‘the war has taken a toll’


By Tom Latek
Kentucky Today

It was another big day for new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, with nearly 20,000 in the past four days, and the pandemic total topping 300,000.

A total of 4,240 new cases of the coronavirus were reported to state health officials. That means, over the past four days, Kentucky has seen 19,633 positive cases, with a total of 300,398 since the first case was reported in the state on March 6.


Nine counties saw 100 or more new cases: Jefferson had 496, Fayette 279, Morgan 217, Warren 174, Kenton 161, Clay 142, Boone 124, Daviess 115, and Oldham 115.  Henderson County, with 94, rounded out the top ten.


Kentucky’s positivity rate stood at 12.32% on Saturday, continuing its recent rise, after being in the 8.5% range for several weeks.


There were also 20 new deaths reported, bringing the pandemic total to 2,876 in Kentucky.


The latest victims ranged in age from 30 to 104. Fayette County had five; there were three in Hopkins County; two in Calloway, Jefferson and Madison counties; and one each in Anderson, Casey, Lincoln, McCreary, Mason and Wayne counties.

A total of 1,520 Kentuckians are hospitalized, due to the coronavirus with 384 are in the ICU and 201 are on a ventilator.


In a Facebook video post, Gov. Andy Beshear responded to General Assembly action that would rein in his emergency executive powers. “This is not the time to hamper our ability to fight the deadly virus.”


The high number of cases means the virus is everywhere, he stated.

“We all have a duty to fight back against it.  We need you to be at your very best, and we need to make sure we have the same tools available to our Department for Public Health, to fight this virus that other states do. To date, our efforts have put us in a pace where, adjusted for population, we have lost half the number of people that Tennessee has, and one-quarter of the number of people that North and South Dakota have lost.”


He added, “With over 300,000 cases now in Kentucky, we know that this war has taken a toll on us.  But I am committed to winning it.”
 

To view the full daily COVID-19 report for Kentucky, which includes such information as the red zone counties and red zone recommendations, testing locations, the weekly White House Coronavirus Task Force reports for Kentucky, details on school reopening, executive orders, vaccine distribution, and other information on the state’s pandemic response, go to kycovid19.ky.gov.


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