Coronavirus cases in Kentucky dropped again, but the state’s positive-test rate and deaths attributed to Covid-19 ticked up a bit

Kentucky Health News graph from weekly state reports
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By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

Coronavirus cases and hospitalizations dropped again in Kentucky last week, but deaths and the share of Kentuckians testing positive for the virus ticked back up a bit.

From last Monday through Sunday, the standard reporting week, the state’s weekly report showed 3,117 new cases of the virus, an average of 445 per day. The week before, the average was 564 per day.

Of  the new cases, 22% were in people 18 and younger.

Kentucky Health News graph from weekly state reports

The share of Kentuckians testing positive for the virus in the past seven days is 2.27%, up from 1.97% in the previous week’s report.

The state attributed 172 more deaths to Covid-19 last week, an average of 24.6 per day. That’s up from 19.3 per day last week, but still lower than it was for several weeks prior. The state’s pandemic death toll is 15,200.

Kentucky’s seven-day infection rate dropped to 4.09 daily cases per 100,000 residents. Counties with rates more than double the statewide rate were Hancock, 13.1; Henderson, 12.3; Knott, 11.6; Trimble, 10.1; Morgan, 8.6; Metcalfe, 8.5; and Anderson, 8.2. The good news is that 20 Kentucky counties have an infection rate of zero.

While the number of daily cases has declined 45% in the last two weeks, Kentucky’s infection rate ranks 12th among the states and Washington, D.C., according to The New York Times.

Kentucky hospitals reported 198 patients with Covid-19, with 29 of them in intensive care and 14 on mechanical ventilation. Only three of the state’s hospital regions (Northern Kentucky, Barren River and the Bluegrass) are using at least 80% of their intensive-care beds, but have very few Covid-19 patients. Statewide, nearly 53% of beds, 74% of intensive-care beds and nearly 23% of ventilators are in use.

Cases and hospitalizations are ticking up in some states. Becker’s Hospital Review reports that Covid-19 cases increased 3% over the past 14 days, marking the first change in direction after two months of sustained declines, with infections increasing in 26 states and Washington, D.C., as of April 11. In addition, hospitalizations have ticked up in nine states.