These Lexington businesses had the most COVID-19 cases during latest surge
The University of Kentucky has had more employees test positive for COVID-19 in the last month than any other business in Lexington, according to health department data, but Kroger, Chick-Fil-A, Amazon and others accumulated cases by the double digits.
UK, the city’s largest employer, had at least 103 employees test positive for COVID-19 between Aug. 13 and Sept. 14, according to Lexington-Fayette County Health Department data obtained by the Herald-Leader through an open records request. The health department tallies were limited to workplaces.
The number of infections in Lexington surged from Aug. 13 to Sept. 14 with 3,000 new cases that set several records for single-day increases. There were 83 new cases reported Friday morning. The city has had 7,580 cases since the pandemic started. There have also been 71 deaths, 493 hospitalizations and 6,293 recoveries.
UK students have driven Lexington’s COVID-19 case increases since students started returning to campus in early-to-mid August. Those using campus had to get screened. Students have accounted for 1,479 of Fayette County’s cases since Aug. 3.
In the workplace data, employees didn’t always specify where within UK they worked. Some said they worked at the Chandler Hospital, others said they worked in athletics, but most gave no description.
Longship, a logistics company with an office on Newtown Pike, had the next-highest case count at 19. Scentsy, a candle company with a distribution center on Palumbo Drive, has had at least 15 cases in the past month.
The health department cited Scentsy in March after it failed to close when Gov. Andy Beshear temporarily ordered all non-essential businesses to shut down. But the company resumed operations after successfully arguing that it should be allowed to open as long as it had safety procedures in place.
In addition to Longship and Scentsy, Amazon has had 14 total cases in the past month between its Lex 1 and Lex 2 facilities. Kroger has had 11 total cases at its Lexington sites. The Willows, a chain of long-term care facilities, has had at least 10 cases across its four Lexington locations. UPS has also had 10 cases across its Lexington sites. Chick-Fil-A has had 10 cases across its Lexington stores.
The data provided by the health department may not include every case at each business, as the information is based on contact tracing, health department officials said. When a COVID-19 patient is contacted, the information collected is dependent on what the patient tells the contact tracers.
For the most part, the data includes Fayette County residents only, including some residents who said they worked out of the county, health department officials said. If an out-of-county resident works at a business in Fayette County, it’s rare for the local health department to track nonresidents’ cases.
Top case increases among Lexington businesses over past month
- University of Kentucky (103)
- Longship (19)
- Scentsy (15)
- Amazon (14, across multiple locations)
- Kroger (11, across multiple locations)
- Chick-Fil-A, The Willows, UPS (10, across multiple locations for each business)
- Fayette County Public Schools, Malone’s, Red Lobster (9 each, across multiple locations for each organization)
- Starbucks (8, across multiple locations)
- Baptist Health, Tanbark rehabilitation and care center, Lakeshore Learning teacher supply store (7 each)
- HealthFirst Bluegrass, Pine Meadows nursing home (6)
- Walmart (multiple locations), Galls (5)