Deadly week for COVID-19 cases locally

Recent days have proven deadly concerning COVID-19 cases in Whitley and its surrounding counties with a total of five deaths reported over a period of five days across three counties.

On Monday, the Bell County Health Department reported its ninth COVID-19 fatality, which involved a 70-year-old male.

The Bell County Health Department reported its seventh and eighth COVID-19 fatalities Thursday involving a 79-year-old female and a 73-year-old female. All of Bell County’s COVID-19 fatalities have involved patients ranging in age from 68-85.

Late Friday evening, the Knox County Health Department reported its 10^th COVID-19 fatality.

On Thursday, the Whitley County Health Department reported its second COVID-19 fatality. It involved an adult resident.

Whitley County

The Whitley County Health Department reported four new COVID-19 cases Tuesday, two cases on Monday, two cases on Sunday, two new cases Friday, and two new cases Thursday.

Whitley County has had a total of 182 COVID-19 cases.

Whitley County has a total of 21 active cases, including two people isolated in the hospital, and 19 isolated at home. A total of 159 cases have been released from isolation.

Bell County

The Bell County Health Department reported one new COVID-19 case Tuesday, one new case Sunday, one new case Saturday, two new cases Friday, and nine new cases Thursday.

Bell County now has 67 active cases, including nine who are hospitalized.

Bell County has had a total of 365 COVID-19 cases, including 298 people, who have recovered.

Laurel County

The Laurel County Health Department reported five new COVID-19 cases Tuesday, two new cases Monday, five new cases Sunday, three new cases Saturday, four new cases Friday, and six new cases Thursday.

The Laurel County Health Department has reported a total of 510 cases, including: 359 recovered cases, and 146 active cases, of which nine are currently hospitalized.

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

Knox County

The Knox County Health Department reported two new cases Tuesday, including a child, eight new cases Monday, seven new cases Friday, and three new cases Thursday.

Knox County has a total of 325 COVID-19 cases.

Knox County also announced Tuesday that 55 positive COVID-19 cases had recovered, and that out of the first 323 cases, 227 had recovered, and 86 cases were active.

McCreary County

The Lake Cumberland District Health Department reported three new COVID-19 cases in McCreary County Tuesday.

Tuesday’s new McCreary County cases include: a 46-year-old female and a 73-year-old female, who are both self-isolated but still symptomatic, and a 59-year-old female, who is self-isolated but her symptom status is unknown.

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

McCreary County has had a total of 71 COVID-19 cases, including 20 active cases, who are all self-isolated. 51 McCreary County cases are classified as not contagious or no longer isolated.

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

Statewide cases

On Tuesday, Beshear reported 688 new COVID-19 cases, including 12 cases involving children ages five and under, and 10 new deaths.

Statewide there have been 44,568 total positive cases of the COVID-19 virus in Kentucky, and 895 total deaths from the virus. A total of 831,302 people in Kentucky have been tested for COVID-19, and at least 9,594 people have reported that they have recovered, according to the latest information on the Commonwealth of Kentucky’s official COVID-19 website.