COVID-19 Update
Commissioner of the Kentucky Department for Public Health Dr. Steven Stack provided an update on COVID-19, noting that while hospitalizations, ICU bed and ventilator use all remain at some of the lowest levels we have seen since the beginning of the pandemic, the virus is still actively spreading in Kentucky.
Approximately two-thirds of Kentucky counties are at a medium or high COVID-19 community level.
“Currently, all active variants in Kentucky continue to be Omicron variants,” Dr. Stack said. “BA.5 has become the predominant variant nationwide at about 65% of the total COVID sequenced, and Kentucky is seeing a similar pattern.
“BA.5 does not appear to cause increased hospitalization or death, but it is causing more reinfections because previous strains confer less immunity to BA.5.”
For the greatest level of protection against COVID-19, the Governor and Dr. Stack encouraged unvaccinated Kentuckians to get vaccinated and for vaccinated Kentuckians to get boosted if they haven’t already.
Nine out of 10 Kentuckians under 60 who have died from COVID-19 in the past year were unvaccinated, and two-thirds of Kentuckians over 60 who died from COVID-19 in the past year were unvaccinated.
Monkeypox spreading
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says health officials are continuing to track an outbreak of monkeypox that has spread across several countries that don’t normally report monkeypox, including the United States, reports Tom Latek of Kentucky Today.
Through July 12, there have been 929 cases reported across 50 states, compared with 306 cases in 27 states, just two weeks ago, on June 29. On that date, Kentucky had just one case, but that number has now risen to three. All three Kentucky cases have been reported in Jefferson County, according to the Cabinet for Health and Family Services.
Photos by NHS England High Consequence Infectious Diseases Network)
Among Kentucky’s neighboring states, Illinois has reported 121 cases, Virginia 25, Indiana 10, Ohio and Missouri 4 apiece, Tennessee 3, and West Virginia 1.
Worldwide, there have been 10,611 cases in 65 countries, with 10,388 of them in 59 countries that do not normally see monkeypox.
According to the CDC, symptoms of monkeypox can include fever, headache, muscle aches and backache, swollen lymph nodes, chills, exhaustion, and a rash on various parts of the body that can go through different stages before healing completely.
The illness typically lasts 2-4 weeks. Sometimes, people get a rash first, followed by other symptoms. Others only experience a rash.
It’s not clear how the people were exposed to monkeypox, but according to the CDC, early data suggest that gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men make up a high number of cases. However, anyone who has been in close contact with someone who has monkeypox is at risk.
The CDC says monkeypox, although rare, is no stranger to the U.S. In 2021, one case was reported in Maryland and another in Texas. Both were found in people who had recently returned from Nigeria.
The largest outbreak in the U.S. until now, was in 2003, when 47 confirmed and probable cases were reported in six states: Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Every person infected with monkeypox in that outbreak became ill after having contact with pet prairie dogs. The prairie dogs were infected after being housed near imported small mammals from Ghana. This was the first time that human monkeypox was reported outside of Africa.
