New COVID-19 cases reported Wednesday in Bell, Whitley, Laurel and Knox counties

Bell, Whitley, Laurel and Knox counties all reported additional COVID-19 cases Wednesday.

The Bell County Health Department reported 32 new positive cases of COVID-19 Wednesday, including 13 individual cases and 19 long-term care cases. This brings the total number of COVID-19 cases in Bell County to 202.

Bell County now has 90 active cases, including six, who are hospitalized: a 74-year-old female, a 71-year-old female, a 76-year-old female, a 43-year-old female, a 95-year-old female, and a 68-year-old female.

The Bell County Health Department reported eight new COVID-19 cases Tuesday, six new cases Monday, four new COVID-19 cases Sunday, one new case Saturday, 13 new cases Friday, and eight new cases on Thursday.

A total of 112 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 194 additional cases have been reported.

On July 16, the Bell County Health Department reported its only COVID-19 death, which was an 85-year-old male.

Whitley County

One day after reporting the county’s first COVID-19 fatality, the Whitley County Health Department reported six new COVID-19 cases Wednesday.

This includes four confirmed cases and two probable cases because an antigen test was used. This brings Whitley County’s total number of COVID-19 cases to 73.

The Whitley County Health Department reported four new COVID-19 cases Tuesday, including one confirmed case and three probable cases.

On Sunday, the Whitley County Health Department announced six new COVID-19 cases, and three new cases of COVID-19 were announced Friday, including one confirmed case and two probable cases.

A confirmed case means that a PCR test has identified virus genetic material, which usually comes from nose or mouth swabs, according to a graphic from the Whitley County Health Department.

A probable case is defined as a person meeting clinical criteria and epidemiologic evidence with no confirmatory laboratory testing performed for COVID-19; or a person meeting presumptive laboratory evidence and either clinical criteria or epidemiologic evidence; or a person meeting vital records criteria with no confirmatory laboratory testing performed for COVID-19, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

Whitley County now has a total of 73 COVID-19 cases, including 29 active cases. Two Whitley County residents are isolating in the hospital, and 27 Whitley County residents are isolating at home.

A total of 43 Whitley County patients have been released from isolation.

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 62 additional cases diagnosed.

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

Out of the 73 Whitley County cases, six patients were under the age of 18, eight patients were ages 18-20, 14 patients were ages 21-30, 14 patients were ages 31-40, 11 patients were ages 41-50, seven patients were ages 51-60, seven patients were ages 61-70, and six patients were age 71-80.

Laurel County

The Laurel County Health Department announced five new COVID-19 cases Wednesday, all of whom are recovering at home.

Wednesday’s cases include: a 51-year-old female, a 64-year-old male, a 44-year-old female, a 54-year-old male and a 66-year-old male.

Laurel County has a total of 171 active cases, including 161 people isolating at home.

The health department also announced Wednesday that one previous case has been released from the hospital, and one prior case has been hospitalized.

“We also had a case released from the hospital several days ago that we failed to remove from our hospitalization portion of the graph, which is good news. After correcting that data, we currently have 10 hospitalized cases,” the health department said in a release.

The Laurel County health department reported seven new cases Tuesday, 10 new cases Monday, eight new cases Sunday, eight new cases Saturday, 13 new cases Friday, and nine new cases Thursday.

Laurel County now has a total of 289 COVID-19 cases out of which 114 people have recovered.

Between March 24 and June 4, there were 22 COVID-19 cases diagnosed in Laurel County. Since June 9, there have been an additional 267 cases reported there, according to the Laurel County Health Department.

Laurel County has had four COVID-19 related deaths.

Out of the 289 Laurel County cases, 27 patients were under the age of 18, 71 patients were ages 18-30, 49 patients were ages 31-40, 38 patients were ages 41-50, 38 patients were ages 51-60, 41 patients were ages 61-70, 16 patients were ages 71-80, and nine patients were over age 80.

A total of 7,081 COVID-19 tests have been performed in Laurel County as of July 20.

Knox County

The Knox County Health Department announced Wednesday that five additional COVID-19 cases had been reported. This brings Knox County’s total number of new cases to 160.

The Knox County Health Department reported four additional COVID-19 cases Tuesday, 10 additional COVID-19 cases Monday, and 15 additional COVID-19 cases Friday, three of whom are children.

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 150 new COVID-19 cases diagnosed in Knox County.

Out of the first 119 Knox County cases, five patients were under the age of 18, 19 patients were ages 18-30, 14 patients were ages 31-40, nine patients were ages 41-50, 12 patients were ages 51-60, 10 patients were ages 61-70, 17 patients were ages 71-80, and 33 patients were over age 80.

A total of seven patients from Christian Health Center in Corbin have died in Knox County due to COVID-19. At least five of the patients had pre-existing conditions.

Other cases

The Lake Cumberland District Health Department reported McCreary County’s 21st COVID-19 case Monday. It involves a 38-year-old male, who is self-isolating, but still symptomatic.

On July 14, McCreary County’s 20^th COVID-19 case was reported involving an 89-year-old male, who is hospitalized.

Gov. Andy Beshear reported Wednesday afternoon that 518 newly reported cases of COVID-19 had been confirmed statewide, including three new deaths. A total of 14 of the new cases were children ages five and under.

On Sunday the state reported its highest number of new COVID-19 cases in one day at 979 cases.

Statewide, there have been 24,540 total positive cases of the COVID-19 virus in Kentucky, and 677 total deaths from the virus. Over 560,161 people in Kentucky have been tested for COVID-19, and more than 7,000 people have reported that they have recovered, according to the latest information on the Commonwealth of Kentucky’s official COVID-19 website.