Whitley County reports first COVID-19 death Tuesday

Whitley County has suffered its first COVID-19 death.

“We are sad to report the first death of a Whitley County resident associated with COVID-19, but we will not be releasing further details,” Whitley County Public Health Director Marcy Rein said in a release Tuesday afternoon.

Other local counties have also suffered COVID-19 related deaths. A total of seven patients from Christian Health Center in Corbin have died in Knox County, including two that were reported Thursday.

Laurel County has had four COVID-19 related deaths.

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

The Whitley County Health Department also reported Tuesday that there were four new cases of COVID-19, 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 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 67 COVID-19 cases, including 23 active cases. Two Whitley County residents are isolating in the hospital, and 21 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 56 additional cases diagnosed.

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

Out of the 66 Whitley County cases, four patients were under the age of 18, eight patients were ages 18-20, 14 patients were ages 21-30, 13 patients were ages 31-40, nine patients were ages 41-50, seven patients were ages 51-60, six patients were ages 61-70, and five patients were age 71-80.

Laurel County

The Laurel County Health Department announced seven new COVID-19 cases in Laurel County Tuesday. One of those cases is hospitalized, but COVID-19 is not the primary cause for the hospitalization, the health department reported.

Also, two previously reported cases are now hospitalized, one of which is a pediatric patient under the age of five. There are currently 166 active cases in Laurel County, out of which a total of 11 people are isolating in the hospital and 155 are isolating at home.

Tuesday’s cases include: a 39-year-old male, a 23-year-old female, a 20-year-old female, a 47-year-old female, a 32-year-old male, a 43-year-old male and a 33-year-old male.

The Laurel County health department reported 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 284 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 out of which 20 people recovered and two died. Since June 9, there have been an additional 262 cases reported there, according to the Laurel County Health Department.

Out of the 284 Laurel County cases, 27 patients were under the age of 18, 71 patients were ages 18-30, 49 patients were ages 31-40, 37 patients were ages 41-50, 36 patients were ages 51-60, 39 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.

Bell County

The Bell County Health Department reported eight new COVID-19 cases Tuesday bringing the county’s total number of COVID-19 cases to 170.

Bell County now has 69 active cases, including four, who are hospitalized: a 74-year-old female, a 71-year-old female, a 76-year-old female, and a 43-year-old female.

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

A total of 101 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 162 additional cases have been reported.

Knox County

The Knox County Health Department announced Tuesday that four additional COVID-19 cases had been reported, including one positive being a child. This brings the total number of cases in Knox County to 155.

The Knox County Health Department reported 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 144 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.

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 Tuesday afternoon that 674 newly reported cases of COVID-19 had been confirmed statewide, including three new deaths.

This was the second highest one day total that Kentucky has seen behind the record 979 cases that were reported Sunday.

Statewide, there have been 24,060 total positive cases of the COVID-19 virus in Kentucky, and 674 total deaths from the virus. Over 549,208 people in Kentucky have been tested for COVID-19, and more than 6,927 people have reported that they have recovered, according to the latest information on the Commonwealth of Kentucky’s official COVID-19 website.