By Tom Latek
Kentucky Today
For the first time since the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began issuing their COVID Community Levels maps in April, Kentucky has more counties in the red or yellow categories than those that are in the green.
The map, which was posted to the state’s COVID-19 website shows 43 Kentucky counties in the red, or high level, 35 in yellow, or medium, and 42 in green meaning low level.
According to the CDC, the COVID-19 Community Levels, which they began using in March, is a new tool to help communities decide what prevention steps to take based on the latest data. Levels can be low, medium, or high and are determined by looking at hospital beds being used, hospital admissions, and the total number of new cases in an area. They urge people to take precautions to protect themselves and others from COVID-19 based on the Community Level in your area.
While residents of counties at all three levels, green, yellow, and red, are urged to stay up to date with COVID vaccines and to get tested if they have symptoms of COVID-19, people in yellow counties who are at a high risk for severe illness, should talk to their health care provider about whether they need to wear a mask and take other precautions.
For those in red counties, take the same precautions as residents of green or yellow counties, but in addition, are urged to wear a mask at public indoor settings.
The latest weekly state figures, which are released on Mondays, show there have been 1,398,705 positive cases of COVID-19 since the first one was confirmed in Kentucky on March 6, 2020. That is the equivalent of just over 31% of Kentucky’s total population. There have also been 15,114 COVID-related deaths.
Gov. Andy Beshear continues to offer this advice: “The best thing everybody can do is get vaccinated. We are still seeing huge advantages in terms of overall outcomes if you are vaccinated, versus not vaccinated. Please, if you haven’t gotten vaccinated, if you haven’t gotten your first booster, if you’re over 50 and haven’t gotten your second booster, go out and get it.”
