Kentucky pandemic numbers stay on a rough plateau or decline, contrary to national trend

By Bruce Maples
Kentucky Health News

As the rest of the country is seeing increasing numbers of new Covid-19 cases, Kentucky continues at a rough plateau or even a slight a decline in its numbers, such as its seven-day average of new cases.

The Washington Post reports that new cases across the country have increased by 13% in the past week, with the seven-day average topping 63,000 new cases a day for the first time in a month.

Kentucky seems to be bucking the national trend, or at least not joining it. On Tuesday, the state announced 751 new cases of the coronavirus, bringing its seven-day average of new cases 589. That was a drop of 21 from the day before, after two days in which it increased by nine.

The percentage of Kentuckians testing positive for the virus in the last seven days stayed virtually the same: 2.9%, after two days at 2.89%.

Kentucky's seven-day average of daily new cases per 100,000 residents fell to 10.83, from 11.07 on Monday. It moved down to 35th among all the states on the New York Times national Covid-19 tracking site; the ranking has improved as other states' rates have increased.

“We are on a positive trajectory – we are leading all of our seven border states in administering at least one dose of the vaccine and our positivity rate continues to decline –  but we need to keep working hard and not give up,” Gov. Andy Beshear said in a press release. “We need every eligible Kentuckian to join the team and get the first vaccine available them.”

The state has delivered at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine to about 40% of all adults in the state. There are over 570 vaccination sites across the state, and many have openings. Vaccinations are available to people over 40, and some sites vaccinate younger people in order to use available vaccine.

Beshear reported 13 new deaths, bringing the state's total to 6,065. He also reported 10 new deaths found through the state's audit of death certificates. The 14-day average of deaths reported fell to 18.8, from 19.6 the day before.

Today's reported fatalities include an Anderson County man, 75; a Breckinridge County man, 89; a Carroll County woman, 65; a Fayette County woman, 82; a Garrard County man, 90; two Hopkins County women, 52 and 61; two Jefferson County men, both 78; a Laurel County woman, 72; a McCracken County woman, 77; a Trigg County man, 69; and a Trimble County man, 91.

Of the newly-reported deaths found through the audit of death certificates, one was from October 2020, seven were from December 2020, and two were from January of this year.

In other pandemic news Tuesday:

• Counties in the state with daily new-case rates more than double the state rate of 10.83 cases per 100,000 residents over the last seven days were: Owsley, 45.3; Simpson, 34.6; McCreary, 34; Harlan and Powell, 32.4; Lee, 28.9; Whitley, 28; Lyon, 26.1; and Martin, 21.7.
• Counties with more than 10 new cases in today's report were Jefferson, 130; Fayette, 55; Christian, 26; Scott, 25; Whitley, 23; Daviess, 22; Warren 21; Adair and Boone, 19; Hardin, 18; Pike, 17; Kenton and Laurel, 16; Knox and Madison, 13; and Campbell, Harlan, and Pulaski, 11.
• Kentucky's hospitals reported 378 persons hospitalized with Covid-19, up 14 from Monday. Of those, 91 were in the ICU, up 4 from Monday, and 37 were on ventilators, down 4 from Monday.
• A New York judge has ordered the state to vaccinate all prisoners in the state's prisons, jails, and other detention facilities. In issuing the order, Alison Y. Tuitt said “There is no acceptable excuse for this deliberate exclusion.” New York thus becomes one of the few states to make public its plan for vaccinating their incarcerated population. In many states, prisoners are already eligible due to age or health conditions, but have still not been vaccinated, as the focus has been on vaccinating the general population.
• Signs are pointing to travel being on the rebound in America, even as health officials are warning about "getting back to normal" too soon. Multiple airline companies, including American, Delta, and Southwest, are reporting surges in bookings. Gasoline demand is up, too; those not flying are traveling by car. “What we’re seeing now is more travel than we saw throughout the pandemic, including the Christmas and New Year’s holidays,” which were followed by surges in new cases, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said at a White House briefing. “I would just sort of reiterate the recommendations from CDC, saying please limit travel to essential travel for the time being.”