By Tom Latek
Kentucky Today
The number of new cases of COVID-19 and the positivity rate in Kentucky both fell on Saturday, while the number of deaths rose.
There were 544 new cases reported to state public health officials, 20% (109) were individuals 18 years of age and younger. This increases Kentucky’s pandemic total to 448,757.
This chart from the Kentucky Department for Public Health shows the cop counties by percent of residents who have had at least one vaccination.
There were five counties that had 20 or more cases: Jefferson 73, Fayette 34, Scott 25, Pulaski 24, and Campbell with 21.
Boone County reported 15 cases and Kenton 11.
Kentucky’s positivity rate stood at 3.32% on Saturday, based on a seven-day rolling average of the number of tests and positive cases. That was 0.18% lower than Friday, and marked the third consecutive day the positivity rate has dropped, after reaching a peak of 3.57% this past Wednesday.
In addition, 18 new deaths came from local health departments, while there was one from the ongoing audit of death certificates issued last fall and winter, making it 19 in all. There have now been 6,578 Kentuckians lost due to the coronavirus. Information on the latest victims’ ages and locations was not available.
The hospital census from COVID-19 on Saturday remained in the same neighborhood it has been in recent weeks. Of the 417 people hospitalized, 107 were in the ICU and 49 on a ventilator.
As of Saturday, 1,859,277 Kentuckians have received at least one COVID-19 vaccination.
Gov. Andy Beshear has said for the Memorial Day weekend he will raise the capacities at businesses and venues with less than 1,000 people from 60% to 75%, and for outdoor venues over 1,000 from 50% to 60% when the state reaches 2.5 million people having their first injection. Those limits will be lifted for those facilities holding up to 1,000.
To see all vaccination sites including those with free transportation options, click here. To see a list of vaccination sites that have openings this coming week, click here. To see Kentucky’s full daily COVID-19 report, click here.
