A nonprofit publication of the Kentucky Center for Public Service Journalism

Department of Public Health weekly COVID-19 report shows numbers decline in all areas


By Tom Latek
Kentucky Today

There was plenty of good news in the weekly COVID-19 report by the Department of Public Health, as new cases, deaths, the positivity rate and hospitalizations all saw declines from last week.

A total of 7,402 new cases were reported to state public health officials for the week ending Sunday. That compares to 9,159 in the previous week and brings to 1,576,835 the number of confirmed cases in Kentucky, since the first one was reported in Harrison County on March 6, 2020.

Just six counties reported 100 or more new cases last week, which is down from 14 the previous week and 20 the week before that. Listing those six counties in descending order of cases, Jefferson reported 748, Fayette 285, Pike 113, Hardin 106, Madison 102, and Perry 100.

Despite the drop in reported cases, that number is likely undercounted, as many people who test positive while taking a home test do not report it to state public health officials, if they do not require medical treatment, or were asymptomatic.

There were 67 new deaths in the September 26 report, a drop from 80 in the previous week, but above the 65 during the week before that.

Kentucky has now seen 16,969 COVID-related deaths since the start of the pandemic.

The state’s positivity rate, which measures the number of cases from all tests performed except those from home testing kits, has dropped below double digits, and now stands at 9.01%, down nearly three points from the 11.96% rate reported a week ago, and the 16.29% the week before. The 9.01% is the lowest positivity rate Kentucky has seen since the 7.19% recorded for the May 9 report.

Hospitalizations also continued their recent trend of decreasing numbers. There were 398 Kentuckians in the hospital in the Sept. 26 report, 58 fewer than last week. Of them, 62 were in Intensive care and 24 on a ventilator. Last week had 75 in the ICU and 29 on a ventilator.

Taking a wider view of COVID-19, Johns Hopkins University reports there have been 615,353,164 confirmed cases, with 6,537,655 deaths. In the United States, Johns Hopkins says there have been 96,092,311 confirmed cases, and 1,056,536 deaths.

For more details on Kentucky’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, community levels and more, go to the state’s website, kycovid19.ky.gov.


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