State sees ‘troubling’ rise in COVID cases as Jessamine surpasses 500 mark

Published 10:13 am Wednesday, September 16, 2020

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Kentucky’s death toll from COVID-19 has surpassed 1,000, and the state has seen “troubling increases” in the number of cases, Gov. Andy Beshear said Sunday as he reported 536 new positive cases.

He also reported three more deaths from the viral disease, raising the total to 1,060.

By Monday, Beshear had reported five more deaths and 342 new cases of the virus, bringing the total in the state to 57,282. Fifty-three of the newly reported cases were from children ages 18 and younger, of which 12 were children ages 5 and under. The youngest was a 1-month-old from Russell County.

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“Our case numbers often dip during the weekend as not all labs are reporting,” the governor said. “We can expect higher counts during the week, but the real work we have is to get these numbers to begin really going down.”

As of Monday, there have been more than 1 million coronavirus tests performed in Kentucky. The positivity rate was 4.17 percent.

At least 10,918 Kentuckians have recovered from the virus.

Jessamine County continues to see a steady rise in cases, with an average of 39 cases a week over the last six weeks. That’s how long it’s been since the county saw its highest single-week increase in cases. There were 60 new cases reported in the community the week of Aug. 2.

As of Tuesday, which is The Journal’s press deadline, there had already been four new cases reported this week.

Last week’s 47 new cases pushed Jessamine past the 500-case mark.

The majority of local cases remain among the 18 to 30 age range, with nearly 150 of the local cases involving someone in that age group. No other age range has reported even 100 cases in a single range.

As of Tuesday’s report from the Jessamine County Health Department, 499 of the community’s cases have recovered, 39 are active and one is hospitalized.

As of Monday’s drive-through testing report, there have been 4,672 tests performed by the Health Department, with an overall positivity rate of 2.4 percent. Of those tested locally, 66 percent have been asymptomatic.

Last week, the county saw a significant dip in its single-week positivity rate, down to 3.92 percent from 7.2 percent the week of Aug. 31 to Sept. 6.

The Health Department continues to offer drive-through testing by appointment only. To schedule a test, call 859-885-4149 or visit jessaminehealth.org.