‘These aren’t just numbers or cases.’ Lexington has 7 newly confirmed COVID-19 deaths
Lexington reported seven new COVID-19 deaths Wednesday morning, the city’s most newly-confirmed coronavirus deaths in one day.
But those newly-reported deaths occurred over the past six weeks, according to the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department.
Meanwhile, Lexington also reported 296 new COVID-19 cases Wednesday morning.
Of the new deaths, one occurred in October, and the others occurred throughout November. The fatalities hadn’t been counted as coronavirus deaths yet because the city was waiting for additional information about each case. There are several layers involved in confirming that someone’s death was caused by COVID-19, according to the health department.
“They are looked at closely by multiple people, and if COVID isn’t connected to the death, it’s not considered a coronavirus death,” health department spokesman Kevin Hall said.
At any given time, the local health department has 10 to 15 “pending” deaths that are still being investigated to determine if they were caused by COVID-19, Hall said.
Two of the newly reported deaths were people in their 60s, two were in their 80s, and three were in their 90s, according to the local health department.
“COVID is spreading like wildfire, taking record numbers of people from us, infecting record numbers of people out there,” Beshear said during his COVID-19 update Tuesday. He added that Kentucky needed to fight back against “unacceptable deaths.”
The newly-reported fatalities pushed Lexington’s coronavirus death toll to 120 since March. The new death toll for November was 20, and the new total for October was 24. October was already the deadliest month yet in Lexington prior to the additional fatality.
Lexington’s deaths have primarily been older residents. More than 90 percent of fatal COVID-19 cases have been in patients 55 or older. One death has occurred in a resident 34 or younger. The health department has urged people not to get dismissive when accounting for COVID-19 deaths.
“These aren’t just numbers or cases — they’re people whose deaths affect family, friends and loved ones,” health department spokesman Kevin Hall said.
Lexington also reported 16 new hospitalizations Wednesday morning. The city’s total case count increased to 17,699 and the number of total hospitalizations increased to 952 since March.
This story was originally published December 2, 2020 at 9:47 AM.