Nine active cases of COVID in Russell County as of Friday

Statewide Testing Positivity Rate: 3.51%.

Deaths: We are pleased to report no new deaths today. We have experienced a total of 385 deaths resulting in a 1.78% mortality rate (about 1 in 56) among known cases. This compares with a 1.45% mortality rate at the state level and a 1.79% mortality rate at the national level.

Hospitalizations: We presently have 18 cases in the hospital. This is 1 less than what we reported yesterday. We have had a total of 1,201 hospitalizations resulting in a 5.55% hospitalization rate (about 1 in 18) among known cases. The state hospitalization rate is 4.91%. The latest data shows that 97.78% of Lake Cumberland’s ICU beds are filled, and 24.59% of ventilator capacity is being utilized.

Total (Cumulative) Cases: The Lake Cumberland District has experienced a total of 21,651 cases since the onset of the outbreak. This means that 10.36% of our total population has been a confirmed case. However, we do not know how many additional people may have had COVID-19 and were either asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic and never tested. Of our total cases, 0.43% are reinfections.

Released (Not contagious) Cases: We released 39 cases today from isolation. Released cases include: Adair: 4; Casey: 10; Green: 1; McCreary: 2; Pulaski: 15; Russell: 1; and, Taylor: 6. In all, we have released 97.6% of our total cases.

Active (Current) Cases: Taking into account deaths and releases, our active cases decreased by 18 more than the new cases we added today. This leaves us with 136 active cases in our district across 9 of our district’s 10 counties. On 12/10/2020 we were at our peak number of active cases, 1,342.

Where Did Cases Visit Prior to Isolation: The most common places cases visited prior to isolation are (in descending order): Family, Businesses, Medical Facilities, and Schools. Of our active cases, 5% can not be tied back to another known case (community-spread cases).

New Cases: We report that our total case count has increased by 21 today: Casey: 1; Green: 1; McCreary: 2; Pulaski: 7; Russell: 4; Taylor: 5; and, Wayne: 1. Our current new case growth rate is: 1.001. This means our total case count is projected to double every 684.4 days. The most new cases we ever added in a single day was on 12/30/2020 when we added 301 cases. Today’s new cases include:

Casey: A 9-year-old male who is self-isolated, still symptomatic;
Green: A 42-year-old female who is self-isolated, still symptomatic;
McCreary: A 14-year-old female who is self-isolated, still symptomatic;
McCreary: A 25-year-old female who is self-isolated, still symptomatic;
Pulaski: A 35-year-old female who is self-isolated, still symptomatic;
Pulaski: A 83-year-old female who is self-isolated, still symptomatic;
Pulaski: A 72-year-old male who is released, Resolved;
Pulaski: A 47-year-old female who is self-isolated, still symptomatic;
Pulaski: A 29-year-old male who is self-isolated, still symptomatic;
Pulaski: A 58-year-old male who is self-isolated, still symptomatic;
Pulaski: A 32-year-old male who is self-isolated, still symptomatic;
Russell: A 14-year-old female who is self-isolated, still symptomatic;
Russell: A 24-year-old female who is self-isolated, still symptomatic;
Russell: A 2-year-old male who is self-isolated, still symptomatic;
Russell: A 80-year-old female who is self-isolated, Asymptomatic;
Taylor: A 45-year-old female who is self-isolated, still symptomatic;
Taylor: A 62-year-old male who is released, Resolved;
Taylor: A 73-year-old male who is self-isolated, still symptomatic;
Taylor: A 25-year-old male who is released, Resolved;
Taylor: A 20-year-old male who is released, Resolved;
Wayne: A 16-year-old female who is self-isolated, still symptomatic;

We added 152 new cases this week compared to 154 last week. So, our 7-day average incidence rate went down slightly. At the district level, we are averaging adding 10.37 new case per 100,000 citizens per day. Our growth rate projects now that we will double our total cases in 691 days. We experienced 1 COVID-19 related death this week. We have 136 active cases today compared to 128 active cases last Friday. We have 18 hospitalized cases today compared to 18 last Friday.

Our 7-day average incidence chart is now showing 1 county in the “green-on-track” range, Clinton; 5 counties in the “yellow-community-spread” category, Adair, Cumberland, Green, Russell, and Wayne; and 4 counties in the “orange-accelerated” range of community-spread: Casey, McCreary, Pulaski, and Taylor. We are thankful to not have any “red-critical” counties now. Keep in mind, some of our 7-day-incidence data will be skewed over the next few days as we are reconciling our data against the state data.

Please, let’s all do our part in slowing the spread of COVID-19 by wearing our face coverings, avoiding crowds (especially in confined spaces), social distancing when around others, increasing our hand hygiene, increasing our general sanitation, and by avoiding touching of our faces.

The Lake Cumberland area has experienced 21,651 cumulative confirmed cases and there have been 436,617 confirmed COVID-19 cases across all 120 Kentucky Counties as of today (this includes 436,445 statewide plus 172 cases in Lake Cumberland not in the Governor’s/Department for Public Health’s daily report). Regardless of the confirmed case count for any Lake Cumberland County, we believe COVID-19 to be widespread. The LCDHD is working tirelessly, including nights and weekends, to identify and contact all those with whom any positive case may have come into close contact, and to follow up with positive cases when ready to be released. Additionally, we are striving diligently to follow up on business-related complaints regarding noncompliance with the COVID-19 guidance. We are also working with any community partner that requests assistance for prevention or post-exposure planning/response. Finally, we are working with all community partners regarding vaccination planning.

About Zac Oakes 5452 Articles
Zac Oakes is the News and Sports Director for LakerCountry.com and Laker Country WJRS 104.9 FM.