Lexington tops 1,000 COVID-19 cases. More than half were in the last month
Lexington has surpassed 1,000 COVID-19 cases, the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department said Thursday.
The total is now 1,008 for Fayette County. Nearly 600 of those cases have been reported in the last month, the health department said. As of May 11 — two months after the first case was reported March 7 — there were 411 confirmed cases.
The state began reopening with worship centers on May 9, and more reopenings followed on May 11.
Since the start of June, 14 states (including Kentucky) and Puerto Rico have reported their highest daily average case increases since the pandemic started, according to the Washington Post.
The Federal Medical Center on Leestown Road has contributed to Lexington’s cases as 279 of its inmates have tested positive, but some of those cases occurred at the beginning of May, more than a month ago.
The federal prison outbreak started prior to church and business reopenings, and a new case hasn’t been reported in at least a week.
Fayette County is the third Kentucky county to total 1,000 cases. Jefferson County (3,226 cases) and Warren County (1,179 cases) were the first two counties to reach 1,000, according to Kentucky Department of Public Health statistics.
In addition to reporting 30 new cases Thursday, the health department also confirmed the death of Charles Woolsey, a 69-year-old Federal Medical Center inmate. He died Tuesday after he tested positive for COVID-19 on May 7 and was admitted to a local hospital, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
Woolsey was serving a 25-year Indiana sentence on charges of possession of 500 grams or more of methamphetamine, possession with intent to distribute cocaine, possession of marijuana, possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking and prohibited person in possession of a firearm, according to the bureau of prisons.
He had a pre-existing medical condition, the bureau of prisons said. He had been at the Federal Medical Center since July 5, 2017.
There have been 15 COVID-19 deaths in Lexington, according to the health department. Six of them have been FMC inmates.
This story was originally published June 11, 2020 at 11:11 AM.