Lexington’s cases jump again Tuesday as young adults rack up the most new infections
Lexington reported 96 new COVID-19 cases Tuesday, increasing the city’s total to 7,296.
Lexington has had 479 coronavirus patients hospitalized and 70 deaths since the pandemic first reached Kentucky in March. The death toll spiked last week with a record-breaking nine new deaths. The majority of deaths — 39 — have been at nursing homes and other long-term care facilities. More than 60 percent of those who died were 75 or older.
But those getting the virus most frequently continue to be the city’s younger populations, with 20 percent of all cases occurring in the 20-24 age range, according to the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department. The group includes many college students, and University of Kentucky students have accounted for about 35 percent of all new cases since early August.
There were 53 new COVID-19 cases among UK students reported by the health department Tuesday. UK’s coronavirus dashboard showed 463 active cases as of Saturday. More recent data wasn’t available, as the school reports its numbers on a three-day delay.
But despite the case increases on campus, a top White House doctor on Monday encouraged UK to keep its campus open. Dr. Deborah Birx, the response coordinator for the White House coronavirus task force, spoke with UK leaders on Monday and said afterward that the school should stay open if it continued to operate the way it had.
Birx said it’s “actually more dangerous to universities and communities to have universities close, or create the perception of closure of going to exclusively online because then you’ll have [more] students distributed throughout the community.”
In addition to students, harder hit areas include jails. There have been 100 inmates who have tested positive for COVID-19 at the Lexington-Fayette County Detention Center, according to Capt. Matt LeMonds from Community Corrections. LeMonds confirmed one new positive case Monday night. There have also been 11 staff members at the jail who have tested positive.
None of the inmates have died or been hospitalized, LeMonds said Tuesday. One employee was hospitalized but has since checked out of the hospital, LeMonds said.
Those 100 inmates make up a little more than one-fourth of the total incarcerated COVID-19 patients in Lexington since March. The rest came from the Federal Medical Center, a prison facility on Leestown Road, which had an outbreak shortly after the pandemic hit Kentucky. Lexington’s incarcerated patients make up 5 percent of the city’s total coronavirus cases.
This story was originally published September 15, 2020 at 9:57 AM.