COVID-19 claims three local lives Thursday

Thursday was a deadly day with local health departments reporting three COVID-19 fatalities in two counties.

The Bell County Health Department reported two COVID-19 fatalities Thursday, involving a 79-year-old female and a 73-year-old female. These deaths bring the total number of COVID-19 fatalities in Bell County to eight, which all have ranged in age from 68 to 85.

The Bell County Health Department reported nine new COVID-19 cases Thursday, including one individual case and eight long-term care cases.

The Bell County Health Department reported five new cases Wednesday, three new cases Tuesday, three new cases Monday, no new cases Sunday, 10 new cases Saturday, and three new cases Friday.

Bell County now has 77 active cases, including five who are hospitalized: a 66-year-old male, an 83-year-old male, a 62-year-old male, a 75-year-old male, and a 94-year-old female.

Bell County has had a total of 360 COVID-19 cases, including 283 people, who have recovered.

Whitley County

The Whitley County Health Department reported one additional COVID-19 death Thursday in an adult resident. This was only the second COVID-19 fatality in Whitley County with the first fatality being reported on July 21.

The Whitley County Health Department also reported two new COVID-19 cases Thursday, no new COVID-19 cases either Tuesday or Wednesday, four new cases Monday, and one new case Friday.

Whitley County has had a total of 172 COVID-19 cases.

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 161 additional cases diagnosed.

Whitley County has a total of 11 active COVID-19 cases, including two people isolated in the hospital, and nine isolated at home. A total of 159 cases have been released from isolation.

Out of the 172 Whitley County cases, 21 patients were under the age of 18, 10 patients were ages 18-20, 34 patients were ages 21-30, 35 patients were ages 31-40, 23 patients were ages 41-50, 19 patients were ages 51-60, 13 patients were ages 61-70, 14 patients were age 71-80, and three patients were over age 80.

Laurel County

The Laurel County Health Department reported six new COVID-19 cases Thursday, none of which are hospitalized.

Thursday’s cases include: a 60-year-old female, a 77-year-old female, a 59-year-old female, a 17-year-old female, a 21-year-old male, and a 47-year-old male.

The Laurel County Health Department reported eight new cases Wednesday, nine new cases Tuesday, four new cases Monday, one new case Sunday, one new case Saturday, and three new cases Friday.

The Laurel County Health Department has reported a total of 491 cases, including: 359 recovered cases, and 127 active cases, of which eight are currently hospitalized.

Laurel County has had five COVID-19 fatalities with the most recent death happening on Aug. 6.

Between March 24 and June 4, there were 22 COVID-19 cases diagnosed in Laurel County. Since June 9, there have been an additional 469 cases reported there, according to the Laurel County Health Department.

Out of the 491 Laurel County cases, 55 patients were under the age of 18, 117 patients were ages 18-30, 83 patients were ages 31-40, 65 patients were ages 41-50, 74 patients were ages 51-60, 64 patients were ages 61-70, 23 patients were ages 71-80 and 10 patients were over age 80.

A total of 11,059 COVID-19 tests had been performed in Laurel County as of Aug. 17.

Knox County

The Knox County Health Department reported three new COVID-19 cases Thursday, five new cases Wednesday, nine new cases Tuesday, 19 new cases Monday, and seven new cases Friday.

Knox County has a total of 308 COVID-19 cases.

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 298 new COVID-19 cases diagnosed in Knox County.

As of Aug. 13, 84 cases were still active, 172 had recovered, and nine had died with the last COVID-19 death happening on Aug. 12.

Out of the first 265 Knox County cases, 28 patients were under the age of 18, 51 patients were ages 18-30, 33 patients were ages 31-40, 31 patients were ages 41-50, 37 patients were ages 51-60, 22 patients were ages 61-70, 29 patients were ages 71-80, and 34 patients were over age 80.

As of Aug. 14, a total of 3,540 COVID-19 tests have been performed in Knox County.

McCreary County

For the fourth consecutive day, the Lake Cumberland District Health Department reported no new COVID-19 cases in McCreary County Thursday.

The Lake Cumberland District Health Department reported one new case in McCreary County Sunday, one new case in McCreary County Saturday, and one new COVID-19 case in McCreary County Friday.

McCreary County has had a total of 55 COVID-19 cases, including nine active cases of whom eight are self-isolated and one is hospitalized. 46 McCreary County cases have recovered.

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

Statewide cases

On Thursday, Gov. Andy Beshear reported 726 new COVID-19 cases, including 20 children ages five and under, and 14 new deaths. This was the third consecutive day that Kentucky has reported fatalities in double digits.

“Today’s report is good news and bad news. This virus is still out there and still aggressively spreading,” said Beshear. “But our positivity rate is now down to 5.18%, which is headed in the right direction.”

Statewide there have been 41,626 total positive cases of the COVID-19 virus in Kentucky, and 856 total deaths from the virus. More than 794,282 people in Kentucky have been tested for COVID-19, and at least 9,388 people have reported that they have recovered, according to the latest information on the Commonwealth of Kentucky’s official COVID-19 website.