Lexington has 306 new COVID-19 cases. Health department fears post-Thanksgiving spike
Lexington reported 306 new COVID-19 cases Friday morning, the second-largest amount the city has had in one day.
The new cases reported Friday were from Wednesday. The Lexington-Fayette County Health Department was closed for Thanksgiving, so no cases were reported on that day. It was the first time the department closed since the pandemic first reached Kentucky on March 6.
Local health department leaders were worried that COVID-19 cases would “skyrocket” in the weeks after Thanksgiving, spokesman Kevin Hall said. But the impact of that surge may be delayed, Hall said.
“There could also be a bit of a dip first because of testing being limited Thursday and Friday of this week, before the impact of the full Thanksgiving weekend is felt.”
Lexington’s cases have already been surging for the past month. The city has set one-week case records in each of the last four weeks as the escalation in infections continued. Lexington has reported 5,069 cases in November, which is a one-month record for the city and nearly double the previous one-month record of 2,804 cases from September.
With Wednesday’s new cases included, Lexington’s rolling seven-day average of new cases hit a new high of 264.4.
There were no new deaths reported Friday. The city has now reported 16,402 COVID-19 cases since March 8. There have also been 113 virus deaths in Lexington.
This story was originally published November 27, 2020 at 12:36 PM.