Jessamine has more than 50 new COVID cases in past week

Published 10:09 am Thursday, August 13, 2020

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Jessamine County has seen more than 50 new cases of the coronavirus in the past week, including three new cases added Monday, five new cases added Tuesday and six more added Wednesday.

As of the Aug. 12 Jessamine County COVID-19 summary released by the Jessamine County Health Department, there have been 358 positive cases of the virus reported in the county.

Of those cases, 71 are active, 287 have recovered and two are hospitalized.

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The majority of cases have involved those in the 18 to 30 range, with the fewest cases in the 80 or older range.

Cases among men and women remain relatively close with 54.5 percent of local cases reported involving women and 45.5 percent involving men.

During the last week of July and first week of August, Jessamine reported more than 100 new cases, which pushed the county over the 300 mark as of Tuesday, Aug. 4.

The Health Department has administered 3,859 drive-through tests as of Monday, with a 2 percent positivity rate. Of those tested, 67 percent have been asymptomatic, according to the department.

Those interested in drive-though testing can call 859-885-4149 to schedule an appointment or visit jessaminehealth.org.

As Jessamine County sees a steady increase in the number of cases, so does Kentucky overall.

On Wednesday, Gov. Andy Beshear announced the state’s largest number of new cases in a single day.

Along with 1,163 new cases, Beshear announced seven more deaths attributed to the virus Wednesday.

During his press conference Monday, Beshear announced 275 more cases and two more deaths, and on Tuesday, he announced 562 new cases and eight more deaths.

As of Wednesday, there have been 36,945 cases in Kentucky and 790 deaths.

Of the new cases reported over the weekend and early this week, more than 60 involved children younger than 5.

On Wednesday, there were 683 people hospitalized with the virus, with 143 of those in intensive care units.

Beshear reported that the state’s positivity rate (the number of those who test positive compared to the number of those tested) continues to be an area of concern. 

As of Wednesday, the positivity rate was 5.62 percent, and more than 700,000 Kentuckians had been tested for the virus. Over the weekend, the rate had reached more than 6 percent.

There have been at least 8,893 people who have recovered from the virus in the state.

Of the total cases, about 11 percent have been hospitalized, and about 3.5 percent have been in the intensive care unit.   

According to data released from the Governor’s Office Sunday, the majority of cases in the state involve those in the 20 to 29 age range, but the majority of deaths involved those in the 80 or older range.

Nearly a fourth (23.11 percent) of all cases have been Jefferson County residents, which includes Louisville, Kentucky’s largest city.

Other counties with high numbers of cases (more than 500) include neighboring Fayette and Madison counties, along with Warren, Kenton, Boone, Shelby, Daviess, Oldham, Muhlenberg, Hardin, Campbell, Graves, Madison and Christian counties.

In neighboring counties, the following number of cases had been reported as of Aug. 10:

— Fayette: 3,149

— Garrard: 79

— Mercer: 83

— Woodford: 156

— Madison: 516

Also on Monday, Beshear announced that bars and restaurants would be allowed to reopen to the public at 50 percent capacity on Tuesday, but asked that they stop serving drinks at 10 p.m. and close at 11 p.m.

He also asked school districts to postpone in-person instruction until Sept. 28. 

A travel advisory remains in effect with the recommendation of a 14-day self-quarantine for travelers who went to any state reporting a positive testing rate of 15 percent or more. As of Wednesday morning, those states included Florida, Alabama, Nevada, Arizona, Texas, Idaho, Mississippi, South Carolina and Kansas.   

For more information about COVID-19 in Kentucky, visit kycovid19.ky.gov.

About Whitney Leggett

Whitney Leggett is managing editor of The Winchester Sun and Winchester Living magazine. To contact her, email whitney.leggett@winchestersun.com or call 859-759-0049.

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