Knox, Laurel and Bell counties report COVID-19 incidence rates in the top 12 statewide Friday

Knox, Laurel, Bell and Whitley County all reported COVID-19 incidence rates Friday that were among the top 19 highest incidence rates in the state.

The Knox County Kentucky Health Department announced Friday that 19 new COVID-19 cases had been reported, which includes three cases involving children. This brings the county’s total number of cases to 3,387.

There are currently 131 active cases in Knox County.

Knox County has reported a total of 15 COVID-19 deaths with the most recent death occurring on Oct. 26.

On Thursday, the state announced that an additional 10 Knox County residents had been confirmed to have died from COVID-19 between the period of Nov. 1, 2020, through Jan. 31, 2021.

Knox County’s COVID–19 incidence rate stood at 39.4 Friday, which was the third highest incidence rate in the state, according to the state’s official COVID-19 website.

Laurel County

The Laurel County Health Department is no longer releasing COVID-19 numbers Tuesday through Friday, and instead is issuing a weekly COVID-19 update every Monday afternoon at 5 p.m.

As of Monday, the Laurel County Health Department had reported a total of 49 confirmed COVID-19 fatalities.

On Thursday, the state announced that an additional six Laurel County residents had been confirmed to have died from COVID-19 between the period of Nov. 1, 2020, through Jan. 31, 2021.

Laurel County’s COVID–19 incidence rate stood at 24.2 Friday moving it from the red to the orange zone. Laurel County had the 11th highest COVID-19 incidence rate in the state Friday, according to the state’s official COVID-19 website.

Bell County

The Bell County Health Department reported eight new individual COVID-19 cases Friday, bringing the county’s total number of cases to 2,889.

There are currently 51 active individual cases, of which five people are hospitalized.

The Bell County Health Department has announced a total of 41 COVID-19 deaths with the two most recent fatalities being reported on March 16.

Bell County’s COVID–19 incidence rate stood at 24.1 Friday, which was the 12th highest incidence rate in the state, according to the state’s official COVID-19 website.

Whitley County

The Whitley County Health Department announced 14 additional COVID–19 cases on Friday, bringing the county’s total number of cases to 3,501.

There are currently 76 active cases of which no one is hospitalized. A total of 3,393 people have been released from isolation in Whitley County.

The Whitley County Health Department has reported a total of 32 confirmed COVID-19 fatalities with the five most recent deaths being reported on Feb. 22.

On Thursday, the state announced that an additional 10 Whitley County residents had been confirmed to have died from COVID-19 between the period of Nov. 1, 2020, through Jan. 31, 2021.

Whitley County’s COVID–19 incidence rate stood at 19.7 Friday, which was the 19th highest rate in the state, according to the state’s official COVID-19 website

The Whitley County Health Department also announced Friday that it had given 190 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine this week, and that a total of 1,510 doses have been delivered overall. There are currently 339 people on the health department’s COVID-19 vaccine waitlist.

Statewide

Gov. Andy Beshear announced 731 additional COVID–19 cases in Kentucky on Friday, bringing the state’s total to 419,872.

Beshear reported 25 additional deaths Friday, and 166 new deaths accounted for the in the recent state audit of deaths between Nov. 1, 2020, and Jan. 31, 2021, bringing the state’s official death toll to 5,695.

Beshear said 463 Kentuckians are currently hospitalized, of which 101 are in intensive care.

As of Friday, 10 of Kentucky’s 120 counties have a COVID–19 incidence rate greater than 25, which places them in the red zone.

Lyon County has the highest incidence rate in the state at 276.7. Lee, Menifee, Fulton, and Elliott counties all had an incidence rate of 0.0.

Editor’s Note:

After today (March 19, 2021) the News Journal will no longer be posting COVID-19 updates Monday through Friday. COVID-19 incidence rates in Whitley, Bell and Laurel counties have dropped into the orange zone with new cases typically only being reported in the single digits in Whitley County.

The News Journal will still run a story in Wednesday’s print edition summarizing the number of COVID-19 cases for the past week, which will also be shared on www.thenewsjournal.net.

To access the information typically listed in the News Journal’s daily posts, the Whitley County Health Department and Knox County Health Department both post COVID-19 updates Monday – Friday on their Facebook pages. Be sure to look for the Knox County Kentucky Health Department Facebook page. The Bell County Health Department posts COVID-19 updates daily on its Facebook page. The Laurel County Health Department posts a COVID-19 summary on its Facebook page at 5 p.m. every Monday.

For daily statewide numbers and the daily COVID-19 incidence rate for each county, see the state’s official COVID-19 website at https://govstatus.egov.com/kycovid19.