State as a whole moves out of the 'red zone" but 51 counties are still in it; infection rate 6th, hospitalization rate 3rd among states

NYT graphs show new-case rates of the top state, Maine; Kentucky (which
ranks sixth); and the only bordering state in the top 10, West Virginia
(which ranks fifth). Kentucky ranks third in Covid-19 hospitalizations.

By Al Cross

Kentucky Health News

After almost four months, Kentucky's rate of new coronavirus cases is no longer what the state considers top be a high level of transmission. In other words, the state is out of the "red zone," defined as more than 25 daily cases per 100,000 residents in the last seven days.

That said, 51 of the state's 120 counties still have rates in the red zone, and 18 have rates that are more than double the statewide rate of 23.26 per 100,000: Perry, 133.7; Menifee, 121.1; Wolfe, 107.8; Leslie, 88.2; Lawrence, 71.8; Breathitt, 62.2; Martin, 61.3; Knott, 57.9; Wayne, 56.2; Bath, 56; Montgomery, 52.8; Lee, 52.1; Harlan, 51.6; Morgan, 48.3; Floyd, 48.2; Magoffin, 48.2; Adair, 47.6; and Elliott 47.5.

Kentucky's seven-day infection rate remained sixth among the states, and its Covid-19 hospitalization rate ranked third, according to The New York Times' ranking of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.

The state's hospitalizations have dropped 42 percent in the last 14 days, about the national average, and its new-case rate has dropped 68%, more than the national figure of 59%.

Wednesday, the state reported 2,334 new cases of the virus, lowering the seven-day rolling average to 1,765 per day, just over half what it was nine days earlier.

The percentage of Kentuckians testing positive for the virus in the last seven days was 7.73%, making 38 straight days it has dropped from a high of 33.1%.

Kentucky hospitals reported 865 patients with Covid-19, just over half the number reported two weeks earlier, with 170 in intensive care and 87 on mechanical ventilation. Three of the 10 hospital regions reported more than 90% of their intensive-care beds in use, and two were between 80% and 90%.

The state attributed 35 more deaths to Covid-19, approximately the average for the last seven days. That raised Kentucky's pandemic toll to 13,935.