120 new COVID-19 cases in Lexington. City eclipses 6,000 total infections
Lexington reported 120 new COVID-19 cases Thursday morning, pushing the city’s total past 6,000.
There were seven new hospitalizations and zero new deaths reported.
Lexington reached 6,000 cases just 11 days after reaching 5,000 cases on Aug. 23. That’s the fastest Lexington has recorded 1,000 new cases since the pandemic reached the city in early March.
Recent case increases have largely been driven by University of Kentucky students with another 47 new infections reported Thursday. The Lexington-Fayette County Health Department has reported 806 new cases among UK students since Aug. 3. A lot of those cases were still active — UK reported 435 active cases among students as of Aug. 30. Its case total lags the health department.
Despite increasing case numbers, UK’s positivity rate has remained below 2 percent since it started testing its campus population on Aug. 3, according to university spokesman Jay Blanton. However, that positivity rate calculation excludes tests for some students who live off campus and don’t go to in-person classes.
As young people have returned to Lexington for school, younger age groups have continued to generate a higher percentage of Lexington’s total cases. The 20-24 age group now has more cases than any other age group in Lexington at 1,093 cases. That’s about 18 percent of all cases.
The 25-34 age group had the highest case count prior to UK students’ return to school. With 1,029 cases, the 25-34 group now has about 17 percent of total cases.
“Please help slow the spread of COVID-19,” local health department officials said in a statement Thursday morning. They recommended that Lexington residents wear a cloth mask covering their face and nose, stay at least 6 feet away from anyone they don’t live with, and wash their hands often.
In total, Lexington has had 6,035 cases, 436 hospitalizations and 58 deaths since COVID-19 arrived in March.
This story was originally published September 3, 2020 at 9:39 AM.