Number of Kentucky counties at high COVID community level jumps to 61. See CDC’s map
Nearly all Eastern Kentucky counties have moved into the “high” COVID-19 community level, along with a number in the western reaches of the state, the most recent U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention update shows.
Last week, the CDC rated 37 of the state’s 120 counties at a high community level. As of Thursday night, that number had jumped to 61.
Just 14 counties are considered at a “low” level.
The upswing comes as the dominant BA.5 omicron variant crawls across the U.S., even as public health measures to limit transmission dwindle.
COVID-19 community levels
The CDC updates its data Thursday evenings. As of July 15, more than half of Kentucky’s counties were scored at the high level, where officials recommend individuals mask in indoor, public places.
The levels are determined using three factors: new cases per 100,000 people, new COVID hospital admissions per 100,000 people (both are seven-day totals) and percentage of hospital beds occupied by COVID-19 patients (a seven-day average).
In low level counties, the federal health agency recommends you get vaccinated or boosted and test if you have symptoms. The same is true for counties at medium, but the CDC additionally advises people at high risk for serious complications to also consider masking and other precautions.
Anyone who has contact with someone COVID-positive or who has symptoms should get tested and mask if they must be in public.
In all, 35% of U.S. counties were at high community levels as of July 15.
Under a separate metric, all but four Kentucky counties are at high level of community transmission. Those counties – Trimble, Adair, Ballard and Hickman – are all at the next highest level, substantial.
The COVID-19 community transmission levels are calculated by the CDC based on new cases per 100,000 people and percentage of positive nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs), both in the past seven days.
Kentucky state data
The state reports its own COVID-19 data each Monday.
The latest report, dated July 11, shows nearly 11,000 new cases in the state over the week it covers, as well as 62 new deaths.
The state reports 16,244 deaths in Kentucky attributed to the coronavirus since the onset of the pandemic, a handful fewer than the 16,258 reported by John Hopkins University and Medicine.
The case totals are an undercount, Gov. Andy Beshear noted July 7, citing the availability of home testing.
COVID-19 in Fayette County
CDC data show Fayette County’s case rate for the past seven days was 250.97 as of Friday afternoon, with a positivity rate of 18.53%.
That exceeds the state’s reported positivity rate of 16.96%
About 67.5% of Fayette County/Lexington residents are fully vaccinated.
July 13, the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department reported 373 new cases in the area over the week prior.
The agency continues to offer the vaccine and boosters, free of charge, to those ages 6 months and older at its public health clinic three days a week.
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