By Tom Latek
Kentucky Today
The number of new COVID-19 cases in Kentucky fell on Saturday, while deaths, hospitalizations, and the state’s positivity rate all rose.
There were 646 new cases of the coronavirus reported to state public health officials, with 160 of them – nearly 25% – were individuals 18 and younger. This was the third day in a row the number of new cases declined. The total number of positive cases during the pandemic in Kentucky has now reached 444,771.
Five counties had 20 or more new cases: Jefferson had 116, Fayette 39, Boone 38, Shelby 26, and Hardin with 20.
Kenton County report 9 cases, Campbell County 5.
The positivity rate on Saturday stood at 3.40%, based on a seven-day rolling average of tests and positive results. This represented a 0.18% increase from Friday and marked the third consecutive day that figure rose.
In addition, 449 Kentuckians were hospitalized due to COVID-19 on Saturday. Of them, 115 were in the ICU and 48 on a ventilator. All three numbers were higher than Friday.
There were nine new deaths on Saturday, along with three more from the ongoing audit of death certificates issued during last fall and winter. There have now been 6,513 people who lost their lives in Kentucky due to COVID-19.
In all, 1,767,469 Kentuckians have now received at least their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, so the state is now a little over 732,000 away from reaching the governor’s 2.5 million vaccine challenge mark, at which time he has said he will lift most capacity restrictions on businesses and venues holding up to 1,000 people. There are now over 500 vaccination sites around the state. Kentuckians can visit vaccinemap.ky.gov to find the ones nearest them. To see Kentucky’s full daily COVID-19 report, go to kycovid19.ky.gov.
