2,398 new Kentucky coronavirus cases, including 1,472 backlogged cases from Lexington
Due in part to a backlog of cases in Fayette County, Gov. Andy Beshear announced a record 2,398 cases of COVID-19 in Kentucky on Wednesday, for a statewide case total of 76,587.
Of the newly announced cases, 926 were truly new; Fayette County’s portion of those cases, 1,472, are from the last month and a half, Beshear said. Still, “even without the backlogged cases, we’re on pace, unfortunately, to have another record week,” he said.
The remainder of Lexington’s case backlog — an additional 400 cases — will be added into the state system in the coming days. In recent weeks, the state’s incidence rate for Fayette County has been outdated because Kentucky’s second-largest city was slow to report its figures to the state, Beshear said. The state and Lexington’s health department began working to resolve the discrepancy after the Herald-Leader reported on it last month.
“They weren’t getting the data into the system to report to the state, and they knew they had it, and it wasn’t getting done,” Beshear said. “We’ve been in this pandemic long enough. It shouldn’t have happened, but we’re getting them caught up.”
Dr. Steven Stack, Kentucky’s public health commissioner, said Fayette County’s incidence rate — the seven-day average number of cases per 100,000 people — “will go up now” because of the new cases logged into the state database on Wednesday. But the state’s map actually showed Fayette County’s rate had dropped. The official incidence rate is 17.5, down from 21.6 on Tuesday, 32.1 on Monday and 36.2 on Sunday. State guidelines say school districts should cancel in-person classes when the rate is above 25.
Now, “the state’s reported COVID-19 case numbers for Lexington [will] more closely align with Lexington’s cumulative case county, a spokesman for the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department said in a news release Wednesday afternoon.
The rate of positive tests statewide, a seven-day average, is hovering at 4.21 percent.
Beshear announced five more deaths from the virus, putting the death toll at 1,223. There are 672 people hospitalized with the virus in Kentucky, 161 of whom are in intensive care — the most since May 19 — and 79 are on ventilators.
As child care centers across the commonwealth have struggled to stay open during the pandemic, Cabinet for Health and Family Services Secretary Eric Friedlander announced Wednesday those licensed or certified centers can now apply for an additional $130 per child. Many of those centers have already received $225 for each child enrolled in their program.
The state will dip into about $20 million of its CARES Act funding to provide this assistance. “We hope, we believe, this will help keep some of those centers open,” Friedlander said.
There are 781 licensed child care centers in Kentucky, and 55 are currently closed, he said.
Beshear said eight more child care centers have reported at least one positive case of the virus, including seven new cases among staff and five among children.
In nursing and assisted living facilities, Beshear said 48 additional residents and 22 staff have tested positive, for a total of 1,151 active cases.
According to the state’s coronavirus dashboard for K-12 schools, which is not vetted by the state health department, another 35 students and 27 staff have tested positive. At least 283 students and 60 staff are quarantined.
This story was originally published October 7, 2020 at 4:49 PM.
