Lexington surpasses 100,000 COVID-19 cases as virus spreads statewide
More than 100,000 cases of COVID-19 have been diagnosed in Lexington since the start of the pandemic, public health officials said Monday.
With 150 new cases reported on Friday, plus the entry of backlogged cases into the total case tally managed by the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department, Kentucky’s second largest city has confirmed a total of 100,649 cases since March 2020, when the state diagnosed its first case. Lexington has also reported at least 625 COVID-19 deaths. Statewide, at least 16,004 people have died from the virus.
Spread of the virus is currently escalating in the city and across the state — the current seven-day rolling average in Fayette County is 147 new cases a day, compared to 90 a day this time last month, public health staff said. The statewide positivity rate, rising for more than two straight months, reached 12.42% last week.
But despite this increase, virus-related hospitalizations are not spiking as they did during omicron and delta variant waves. Last summer, for instance, the positivity rate from delta pushed hospitals to their capacity and resource limits. On Aug. 16, 2021, when the positivity rate reached 12.40%, 1,528 people were hospitalized in Kentucky, 429 were in intensive care units, and 224 were on ventilators.
That’s a far cry from last week when, even though the rate of people testing positive was the same, only 299 people were hospitalized, 34 were in ICUs, and 17 were relying on a ventilator to breathe.
Similarly, on Dec. 28, 2021, when the aggressively contagious omicron variant was raging in Kentucky, pushing the positivity rate to 12.61%, 1,330 people were hospitalized, 342 were in ICUs, and 203 were on ventilators.
Gov. Andy Beshear highlighted the decreased potency of the virus in an early June news conference when he said, “while the positivity rate continues to go up, it is not proportional anymore to significant illness.”
Roughly 78% of all Lexington adults are fully vaccinated (67% of the total population), according to the Kentucky Department for Public Health. That’s higher than the statewide adult vaccination rate of 67% (57% of the total state population). Only 32% of adults in Kentucky have received a booster.
Same-day appointments for first, second and third vaccine doses are available at the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday for free. Call 859-288-2483 for more information.
