Number of COVID-19 cases up significantly in recent days in Laurel, Bell counties

COVID-19 cases continue to increase significantly in Laurel and Bell counties, and are increasing to a lesser degree in Whitley County.

The Laurel County Health Department announced Tuesday that three new positive COVID-19 cases had been diagnosed, including: a 74-year-old female, a 27-year-old male, and a 50-year-old male.

Between Friday, July 3, and Monday, July 6, there were an additional 32 positive COVID-19 cases in Laurel County, which range in age from a 10-month-old female to an 88-year-old female, according to the Laurel County Health Department.

On Friday, four new cases were diagnosed, including: a 33-year-old female, a 20-year-old male, a 46-year-old male, and a 36-year-old female.

On Saturday, 18 new cases were diagnosed, including: a 62-year-old male, an 88-year-old female, a 20-year-old male, a 53-year-old male, a 30-year-old female, a 60-year-old female, a 23-year-old female, a 30-year-old female, a 72-year-old female, a 42-year-old male, a 64-year-old male, a 10-month-old female, a 39-year-old male, a 66-year-old female, a 27-year-old male, a 20-year-old female, a 59-year-old male, and a 21-year-old male.

On Sunday, two new cases were reported, including: a 17-month-old female and a 27-year-old male.

On Monday, eight new cases were reported, including: a 64-year-old male, a 30-year-old male, a 21-year-old male, a 63-year-old male, a 64-year-old female, a 6-year-old female, a 21-year-old male, and a 43-year-old female.

On Tuesday, Laurel County reported one newly recovered case, leaving a total of 108 active cases, out of which 10 are hospitalized, and 98 are isolating at home.

Between March 24 and June 4, there were 22 COVID-19 cases diagnosed in Laurel County out of which 20 people recovered and two died. Since June 9, there have been an additional 158 cases reported there, including a third fatality, according to the Laurel County Health Department.

Out of the Laurel County cases, 15 patients were under the age of 18, 44 patients were ages 18-30, 29 patients were ages 31-40, 21 patients were ages 41-50, 24 patients were ages 51-60, 31 patients were ages 61-70, nine patients were age 71-80, and seven patients were over age 80.

A total of 4,829 COVID-19 tests had been performed in Laurel County as of July 6.

Bell County

Bell County now has a total of 67 COVID-19 cases, including 11 new cases that were reported Tuesday, 12 new cases that were reported Monday, 17 new cases that were reported Sunday, and 13 new cases that were reported Friday.

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 59 additional cases have been reported.

Whitley County

Monday afternoon, the Whitley County Health Department reported three new confirmed COVID-19 cases, and four new 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).

“Specifically, these probable cases had antigen tests instead of PCR tests. The Health Department handles the cases the same in regard to isolation and contact tracing,” the Whitley County Health Department noted in Monday’s release.

These latest cases raise Whitley County’s total number of cases to 40.

On Thursday afternoon, the Whitley County Health Department reported four additional lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Whitley County residents.

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 29 additional cases diagnosed, including 19 cases diagnosed since June 29.

Currently there are 20 active cases in Whitley County with 19 people isolating at home, and one person isolating in the hospital.

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

Out of the first 39 Whitley County cases, three patients were under the age of 18, 14 patients were ages 18-30, seven patients were ages 31-40, five patients were ages 41-50, two patients were ages 51-60, four patients were ages 61-70, and four patients were age 71-80.

Other cases

The Lake Cumberland District Health Department reported McCreary County’s 18th COVID-19 on June 27. This was the county’s fifth case since June 20.

As of July 6, there are no active McCreary County cases.

McCreary County reported its 13th COVID-19 case on May 9, according to the Lake Cumberland District Health Department.

Statewide, there have been 17,519 positive cases of the COVID-19 virus in Kentucky, and 602 deaths from the virus. At least 445,196 people in Kentucky have been tested for COVID-19, and 4,841 people have reported that they have recovered, according to the latest information on the Commonwealth of Kentucky’s official COVID-19 website.