Barbourville restaurant employee tests positive for COVID-19 Monday

The Knox County Health Department (KCHD) reported eight new COVID-19 cases Monday, including one child, and an employee at a Barbourville restaurant.

“One of these positive cases is employed at Two Amigos Mexican Restaurant, Barbourville. KCHD is working closely with management to ensure all employees are following proper recommendations. The employee, who tested positive, as well as others in their immediate work (area) are self-quarantining,” said Knox County Health Department Director Rebecca Rains in a news release.

If you visited Two Amigos on Thursday, July 30, Friday, July 31, or Sunday, Aug. 2, you should monitor for symptoms of COVID-19. If you become ill and show symptoms, you should get tested, Rains wrote.

Knox County now has a total of 204 COVID-19 cases.

The Knox County Health Department reported seven new cases Friday, eight cases Thursday, and two new cases Tuesday.

Between April 6 and May 30, Knox County reported 10 COVID-19 cases with all 10 patients having fully recovered by June 15. Since June 11, there have been 194 new COVID-19 cases diagnosed in Knox County.

Knox County reported its eighth COVID-19 fatality on July 23, which was the eighth patient to die from Christian Health Center in Corbin. The first five patients had pre-existing conditions. The status of the last three is unknown.

Out of the first 174 Knox County cases, 17 patients were under the age of 18, 33 patients were ages 18-30, 25 patients were ages 31-40, 17 patients were ages 41-50, 16 patients were ages 51-60, 12 patients were ages 61-70, 21 patients were ages 71-80, and 33 patients were over age 80.

Laurel County

The Laurel County Health Department reported Monday that 15 new cases of COVID-19 had been reported since Saturday, which ranged in age from a 10-year-old to an 82-year-old. All are recovering at home. In addition, the health department announced that two additional cases had recovered Monday.

The health department reported eight new cases Saturday, including: an 82-year-old male, a 10-year-old male, a 64-year-old female, a 19-year-old female, a 45-year-old female, a 41-year-old male, a 49-year-old male, and an 18-year-old female.

No new cases were reported Sunday.

The health department reported seven new cases Monday, including: a 57-year-old female, a 57-year-old male, a 24-year-old female, a 28-year-old female, a 48-year-old female, a 39-year-old female and a 23-year-old female.

The Laurel County Health Department reported six new COVID-19 cases Friday, 12 new COVID-19 cases Thursday, 12 COVID-19 cases Wednesday, and seven new COVID-19 cases Tuesday.

The Laurel County Health Department’s has a total 385 overall cases, including: 187 recovered cases, and 194 active cases, of which eight are hospitalized, and 186 are isolating at home.

Laurel County has had four COVID-19 related deaths.

Between March 24 and June 4, there were 22 COVID-19 cases diagnosed in Laurel County. Since June 9, there have been an additional 363 cases reported there, according to the Laurel County Health Department.

Out of the 385 Laurel County cases, 41 patients were under the age of 18, 97 patients were ages 18-30, 63 patients were ages 31-40, 53 patients were ages 41-50, 54 patients were ages 51-60, 51 patients were ages 61-70, 16 patients were ages 71-80, and 10 patients were over age 80.

A total of 8,888 COVID-19 tests have been performed in Laurel County as of Aug. 3.

Bell County

The Bell County Health Department reported four new COVID-19 cases Monday bringing the total number of COVID-19 cases in Bell County to 280.

Bell County now has 85 active cases, including nine, who are hospitalized: a 66-year-old male, a 95-year-old female, an 87-year-old female, and 83-year-old male, a 79-year-old female, a 72-year-old male, a 70-year-old male, a 75-year-old female and a 55-year-old female.

On July 16, Bell County reported its first COVID-19 death, which was an 85-year-old male. Bell County reported its second COVID-19 fatality on July 23, which involved a 74-year-old female. On July 28, Bell County reported its third COVID-19 fatality, which involved a 68-year-old female.

The Bell County Health Department reported five new cases Sunday, three new cases Saturday, three new cases Friday, and seven additional cases Thursday.

A total of 195 people have recovered from COVID-19 in Bell County.

Bell County was one of the last counties in the state to report a positive COVID-19 case with its first positive case reported on May 16. Prior to June 29, Bell County had only reported eight positive COVID-19 cases, and since that time a total of 272 additional cases have been reported.

Whitley County

The Whitley County Health Department reported nine new cases Monday, including two from the weekend and seven from Monday. All nine tested positive with either PCR/Molecular or Antigen testing.

The Whitley County Health Department reported five new cases Friday, 12 new cases Thursday, seven new COVID-19 cases Wednesday, and six new cases Tuesday.

Whitley County now has a total of 135 COVID-19 cases, including 66 active cases. Two Whitley County residents are isolating in the hospital, and 64 Whitley County residents are isolating at home.

A total of 68 Whitley County patients have been released from isolation. On July 21, Whitley County reported its only COVID-19 death.

Between April 6 and May 17, Whitley County had 11 COVID-19 cases diagnosed, all of whom have been released from isolation.

Since June 8, Whitley County has had 124 additional cases diagnosed.

So far, the majority of Whitley County cases have involved people ages 50 and under.

Out of the 135 Whitley County cases, 16 patients were under the age of 18, 10 patients were ages 18-20, 24 patients were ages 21-30, 28 patients were ages 31-40, 19 patients were ages 41-50, 14 patients were ages 51-60, 11 patients were ages 61-70, 11 patients were age 71-80, and two patients were over age 80.

McCreary County

The Lake Cumberland District Health Department reported two new cases in McCreary County Monday, and that two previously reported cases in McCreary County had been released from isolation.

The two new McCreary County cases involve a 34-year-old male and an 83-year-old male, who are both self-isolating. The 34-year-old is still symptomatic, and information isn’t available about the symptom status of the 83-year-old.

The Lake Cumberland District Health Department reported one case in McCreary County Saturday evening, a 16-year-old female, who is self-isolating but still symptomatic.

The Lake Cumberland District Health Department reported three new COVID-19 cases in McCreary County Friday, including a 57-year-old female, a 60-year-old male, and a 73-year-old female, who are all self-isolating but still symptomatic.

McCreary County has had a total of 37 COVID-19 cases, including eight active cases, who are all in self-isolation, and 29 cases that have all recovered.

So far, McCreary County has had no COVID-19 deaths.

Statewide cases

Gov. Andy Beshear reported 323 new COVID-19 cases Monday, including 12 new cases involving children ages five and under. In addition, he reported two new deaths Monday.

Statewide there have been 31,508 total positive cases of the COVID-19 virus in Kentucky, and 744 total deaths from the virus. A total of more than 642,577 people in Kentucky have been tested for COVID-19, and at least 8,335 people have reported that they have recovered, according to the latest information on the Commonwealth of Kentucky’s official COVID-19 website.

“July was the toughest month, with the largest number yet of overall positive cases. Unfortunately, that will have negative ramifications for August,” Beshear said. “We find we often lose Kentuckians several weeks after they test positive. That means we are likely to have a larger number of deaths in August.”

Despite this, Beshear said, there is reason for optimism.

“The numbers are telling us that facial coverings and masks are working,” he said. “We were facing what looked like exponential growth. In order to see our cases go down, we had to slow the increase. That’s why the mask mandate was necessary. If we had done nothing, by now, we would have been seeing 1,000 new cases every day, but instead we are seeing the increase drop off.”