4 Kentucky counties at high, others missing from latest CDC COVID community levels map
Kentucky added more than 3,800 new COVID-19 cases during the latest reporting period, though data from four eastern counties are missing from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s tracking tool.
For the latest reporting week, spanning Feb. 2 to 9, the CDC reported an additional 3,834 cases in the state. That figure is a decline of roughly 1,000 fewer cases than the week before.
For his part, Gov. Andy Beshear kept his weekly COVID-19 update very brief Thursday, instead focusing on defending his administration’s handling of state tornado relief and juvenile justice as he campaigns for reelection.
“On public health, the flu remains elevated, but continues to decline. COVID-19 has kind of leveled out. The federal emergency ending is going to change things. People are going to have to pay for things they did not in the past. So we ought to be prepared for it,” Beshear said, referring to the recent announcement from President Joe Biden’s administration.
Thursday, the federal Department of Health and Human Services laid out what will and won’t change when the three-year-old COVID public health emergency ends May 11, according to a CNBC report. After that date, you may have to pay for COVID-19 tests, both over the counter and lab, depending on your insurance plan.
What’s more, the federal government will no longer be able to order labs to report test results to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, meaning local data about the virus may be harder to come by.
Friday, NPR reported the John Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, another invaluable source of information about the virus, plans to cease operations March 10.
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Four Eastern Kentucky counties missing from CDC’s COVID tracker
No new data was available Thursday for four Eastern Kentucky counties: Magoffin, Johnson, Floyd and Letcher.
The CDC did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the missing data. Susan Dunlap, director of public affairs at the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, told the Herald-Leader the agency was looking into the matter.
“The CDC did not provide hospitalization data for the following counties: Floyd, Johnson, Letcher and Magoffin. Therefore, last week’s hospital data was used to determine the “level” for these four counties for the Kentucky map. The Department for Public Health does not know why CDC did not have that information included in their data file and has reached out to contacts there to enquire,” Dunlap wrote in an email response Friday.
Most Kentucky counties, excluding the four for which there are no data, showed low COVID-19 community levels, according to the CDC.
Four Kentucky counties – Greenup, Powell, Breathitt and Pike – had high community levels of COVID-19, which CDC guidance says should prompt people in those counties to wear masks indoors in public.
At least 37 counties are showing medium COVID-19 community levels.
The levels are based on weekly totals of new infections and hospital admissions, as well as weekly averages of hospital bed capacity.
Fayette County remains at the medium community level, which has been a trend for several weeks.
The most recent data from the Kentucky Department for Public Health show the state’s positivity rate stood at 9.93% as of Feb. 6. That was down slightly from the 10% it stood at the previous week.
There were 49 additional deaths from COVID-19 in Kentucky between Feb. 2 and 9, according to CDC data. The state is approaching 18,000 deaths from the disease since the start of the coronavirus pandemic three years ago.
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