Kentucky Health NewsNew coronavirus cases in Kentucky increased by nearly 9 percent last week and the number of Covid-19 patients in hospitals jumped 25%, but the positive-test rate went down, and so did the death rate.
The state Department for Public Health‘s weekly report for the latest Monday-to-Sunday reporting period said there were 5,712 new cases last week, or an average of 816 per day. That was 9% higher than the week before, when the state reported 749 new cases per day.
Fifteen percent of the new cases were in people 18 and younger, down from 25% the prior week.
The share of Kentuckians testing positive for the virus in the past seven days was 8.31%, down from 9.17% the prior week. These numbers do not include at-home tests.
Kentucky hospitals reported 332 Covid-19 patients on Monday, an increase of 67 from the week before; 40 of them were in intensive care, the same as the week prior; and 13 were on mechanical ventilation, up two. A New York Times graph showed that most of the increase was among people 70 and older.
The state’s rate of new Covid-19 cases was 12.98 per 100,000 residents, up from 12.14 the week earlier. The top 10 counties were Cumberland, 32.4; Metcalfe, 29.8; Muhlenberg, 29.4; Trimble, 28.7; McCreary, 27.4; Simpson, 23.1; Bath, 22.9; Trigg, 22.4; Knott, 22.2; and Elliott, 20.9 per 100,000.
The New York Times ranks Kentucky’s infection rate fifth among states, with a 13% increase in cases in the last two weeks.
The state attributed 41 more deaths to Covid-19 last week, increasing the Kentucky pandemic death toll to 17,363. Covid-19 deaths have ranged between 60 and 80 for several weeks.