Whitley, Laurel, Knox counties all report 30 plus new COVID-19 cases Wednesday

The Whitley County Health Department announced 41 additional COVID–19 cases on Wednesday, bringing the county’s total to 1,711.

There are currently 378 active cases, of which eight are hospitalized. A total of 1,314 people have been released from isolation.

Whitley County has had 19 COVID-19 fatalities with the most recent fatality being reported on Dec. 7.

With the new cases, Whitley County’s COVID–19 incidence rate stands at 106.4.

Laurel County

The Laurel County Health Department announced 45 additional cases of COVID–19 on Wednesday, bringing the county’s total to 2,894.

There are currently 1,084 active cases, of which 24 are hospitalized. A total of 1,783 cases have recovered.

The Laurel County Health Department has reported that 21 of the active cases came from within congregate settings.

The Laurel County Health Department reported its 13^th confirmed COVID-19 death on Dec. 4.

Knox County

The Knox County Kentucky Health Department announced 31 additional cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, including three children, bringing the county’s total to 1,455.

One of the new cases came from a congregated setting.

There are currently 193 active cases in Knox County.

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

Bell County

The Bell County Health Department announced 16 additional individual COVID–19 cases and six new long term care cases Wednesday, bringing the county’s total to 1,458.

There are currently 136 active individual cases and 14 active long term care cases, of which 14 are total people are hospitalized, who range in age from 22-84.

Statewide

Gov. Andy Beshear announced 3,481 additional COVID–19 cases in Kentucky on Wednesday, bringing the state’s total to 209,136.

Beshear reported 16 additional deaths, bringing the death toll to 2,118.

Beshear said 1,792 Kentuckians are currently hospitalized due to COVID-19, of which 412 are in intensive care.

There have been a total of 3,015,072 COVID-19 tests performed in Kentucky.

“We continue to see some promising trends in our COVID-19 numbers. They are still far too high, but given that we were experiencing exponential growth before we took those difficult steps, this is evidence that we may not just be slowing down that growth, we may even be plateauing our cases,” said Beshear. “You have to slow down the train before you stop it, and you have to stop it before you turn it around.”