COVID continues to lose steam in Kentucky

First in over a year Kentucky Governor wont hold news conference

FRANKFORT, Ky. (KT) – The summer spike in COVID-19 cases due to the delta variant continues to lose steam in Kentucky as the number of new cases, positivity rate, red zone counties and hospitalizations all declined through the end of the workweek.

There were 2,145 new cases of COVID-19 were reported to state public health officials on Friday. That is down from the 2,625 on Thursday and the 4,118 from Oct. 1. Kentucky has now seen a total of 710,364 cases since the first one was reported on March 6, 2020.

The number of deaths on Friday stood at 31. That compares to 50 on Thursday, and 34 on October 1. There have now been 9,053 deaths in the state due to COVID-19.

Kentucky’s positivity rate, based on the ratio of tests performed versus positive test results, also continued its decline on Friday, at 8.49%. Thursday, it was 8.67% and last Friday stood at 9.67%.

There was also good news in the daily hospital census in Kentucky. On Friday, there were 1,514 people hospitalized. Of them, 466 were in the ICU and 310 were on a ventilator. One week ago, those numbers were 1,900 hospitalized, 553 in the ICU and 357 on a ventilator.

The last piece of positive numbers is the incidence rate in Kentucky. On Friday, 104 of Kentucky’s 120 counties were considered “red zones,” meaning their daily case rate was at least 25 people per 100,000 population. While that is still high, one week ago the number was 113 and 111 on Thursday.

Gov. Andy Beshear will not be holding any COVID-19 updates next week.