Whitley County reports second highest COVID-19 incidence rate in the state Friday

The Whitley County Health Department reported 21 new COVID-19 cases Friday, 28 new cases Thursday, nine new cases Wednesday, seven new cases Tuesday, 29 new cases Monday, 37 new cases Sunday, and nine new cases Saturday.

Whitley County has had a total of 609 COVID-19 cases.

Whitley County has 199 active cases, including five people isolated in the hospital while the remainder are isolated at home. A total of 406 cases have been released from isolation.

Whitley County has had four COVID-19 deaths. The first happened on July 21, the second on Aug. 20, the third on Sept. 28, and the most recent death on Oct. 7.

Out of the 609 Whitley County cases, 49 patients were under the age of 18, 63 patients were ages 18-20, 117 patients were ages 21-30, 78 patients were ages 31-40, 80 patients were ages 41-50, 66 patients were ages 51-60, 55 patients were ages 61-70, 56 patients were age 71-80, and 45 patients were over age 80.

Whitley County’s COVID–19 current case incidence rate is 48.6, which places it in the red category. Only Henderson County at 61.6 had a higher incidence rate in Kentucky than Whitley County on Friday.

A county with a COVID-19 rate over 25 cases per 100,000 people is considered critical, which is signified on the state map with the color red. A county with a rate between 10-25 cases per 100,000 people is considered accelerated and is shown as orange on the state map. A county with 1-10 cases per 100,000 people is considered to have community spread and is signified on the state map with the color yellow. A county with less than one case per 100,000 people is considered on track and is signified by the color green on the state map.

The incidence rate for each county may be found online at www.kycovid19.com.

Currently only Lee County on the state map is labeled green with a 0.0 incidence rate Friday.

Laurel County

The Laurel County Health Department reported 15 new COVID-19 cases Friday of which one is hospitalized. Also, one of Friday’s cases comes from a congregate setting, and four cases were released from the hospital Friday.

Friday’s cases involve: a 73-year-old male, a 36-year-old female, a 34-year-old male, a seven-year-old male, a 13-year-old male, a two-year-old male, an 80-year-old male, a 33-year-old female, a 28-year-old female, a 16-year-old female, a 40-year-old male, a 17-year-old male, a 20-year-old female, a seven-year-old male, and a 40-year-old male, who is hospitalized.

The Laurel County Health Department also reported 29 new cases Thursday, one of which is hospitalized, and six of which occurred within a congregate setting, 16 new cases Wednesday, 18 new cases Tuesday, 16 new cases Monday, five new cases Sunday, and 11 new cases Saturday.

The Laurel County Health Department has reported a total of 1,078 COVID-19 cases, including: 697 recovered cases, and 373 active cases, of which 12 are currently hospitalized. A total of 85 of the active cases occurred within congregate settings.

Laurel County Health Department officials noted Friday that a previously reported case had been removed from the list due to being a suspect case, which is not counted in the totals.

Laurel County has reported eight COVID-19-related deaths with the most recent death being reported on Oct. 7.

Out of the 1,078 Laurel County cases, 124 patients were under the age of 18, 210 patients were ages 18-30, 163 patients were ages 31-40, 147 patients were ages 41-50, 156 patients were ages 51-60, 136 patients were ages 61-70, 88 patients were ages 71-80 and 54 patients were over age 80.

A total of 18,573 COVID-19 tests had been performed in Laurel County as of Oct. 5.

Laurel County’s COVID–19 incidence rate is 31.5, placing it in the red category.

Knox County

The Knox County Health Department reported 15 new COVID-19 cases Friday, including one case involving a child, 14 new cases Thursday, including two cases involving children, 36 new cases Wednesday, three new cases Tuesday, and 24 new cases Monday.

“We have been notified that six of these cases are from a congregated setting,” the Knox County Health Department noted about Friday’s cases.

Knox County has a total of 622 COVID-19 cases, including 131 active cases.

Knox County has had a total of 11 COVID-19 deaths with the most recent death occurring on Aug. 25.

Knox County’s COVID–19 current incidence rate is 28 placing it in the red category.

Bell County

The Bell County Health Department reported six new individual COVID-19 cases Friday, five new individual cases Thursday, six new individual cases Wednesday, two new cases Tuesday, one new case Monday, two new cases Sunday, and no new cases Saturday.

Bell County has had a total of 541 COVID-19 cases with three people currently hospitalized, who range in age from 56-82.

Bell County currently has 34 active cases, which are all individual cases and no active long-term care cases.

The Bell County Health Department has reported 19 COVID-19 deaths with the most recent death being reported on Oct. 7. All of Bell County’s COVID-19 fatalities have ranged in age from 62-97.

Bell County’s COVID–19 incidence rate is 14.3 placing it in the yellow category.

McCreary County

The Lake Cumberland District Health Department has reported a total of 224 COVID-19 cases in McCreary County.

Currently there are 27 active McCreary County cases, including one case that is hospitalized with the remainder in self-isolation. A total of 196 McCreary County cases are classified as not contagious, and there has been one McCreary County COVID-19 fatality.

McCreary County’s COVID–19 incidence rate is 19.9 placing it in the orange category Friday.

School cases

(Editor’s note: The following information is based upon Oct. 6 data, which was the most recent school data available on the state’s website as of 5 p.m. Friday.)

The Bell County School District has reported a total of three student cases and four staff COVID-19 cases, all of which are still active.

The Corbin Independent School District has reported one recovered student case, five active student cases, and one staff case that is listed as recovered.

The East Bernstadt Independent School District has reported a total of one student and one staff case, which are both recovered.

The Knox County School District has reported a total of one student and two staff cases, all of which are recovered.

The Laurel County School District has reported a total of 31 student cases, including 29 active cases and two cases that have recovered. There are a total of 12 staff COVID-19 cases, all of which have recovered.

The McCreary County School District has reported a total of 10 student cases, all of which are recovered. There have been a total of eight staff COVID-19 cases, out of which three are active and five are recovered.

The Middlesboro Independent School District has reported two recovered student cases, and one recovered staff case.

The Pineville Independent School District has reported a total of one student COVID-19 case, which is recovered, and no staff cases.

The Whitley County School District has reported one student and one staff case, which are both recovered.

The Williamsburg Independent School District has reported a total of three student COVID-19 cases that are all recovered, and no staff cases.

College cases

As of Oct. 6, the University of the Cumberlands had reported on its main campus in Williamsburg a total of two recovered student cases, and 37 active student cases. No staff members have been diagnosed with COVID-19 so far.

As of Oct. 6, Union College had reported eight recovered student cases and 36 active student cases. There are three recovered staff cases.

Statewide cases

On Friday, Gov. Andy Beshear reported 1,059 new COVID-19 cases, which includes 114 cases involving children ages 18 and under, and eight new deaths.

“These are just far too many cases. We have to do better. Folks, we really need you to wear your mask,” said Beshear. “We’ve talked a lot about enforcement this week, but the best enforcement is you, making sure that you and your family are wearing them every time you go out. If everybody takes on that enforcement, we will stop this third escalation.”

Statewide there have been 78,456 positive cases of the COVID-19 virus in Kentucky, and 1,242 total deaths from the virus. A total of 1,632,824 people in Kentucky have been tested for COVID-19, and at least 13,417 people have reported that they have recovered, according to the latest information on the Commonwealth of Kentucky’s official COVID-19 website.