Statewide Testing Positivity Rate: 3.47%.

Deaths: We are happy to report no new deaths today. We have experienced a total of 423 deaths resulting in a 1.92% mortality rate (about 1 in 52) among known cases. This compares with a 1.46% mortality rate at the state level and a 1.78% mortality rate at the national level.

Hospitalizations: We presently have 15 cases in the hospital. This is 1 more than what we reported yesterday. We have had a total of 1,228 hospitalizations resulting in a 5.58% hospitalization rate (about 1 in 18) among known cases. The state hospitalization rate is 4.93%. The latest data shows that 77.78% of Lake Cumberland’s ICU beds are filled, and 31.15% of ventilator capacity is being utilized.

Total (Cumulative) Cases: The Lake Cumberland District has experienced a total of 21,988 cases since the onset of the outbreak. This means that 10.53% of our total population has been a confirmed case. However, we do not know how many additional people may have had COVID-19 and were either asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic and never tested. Of our total cases, 0.47% are reinfections.

Released (Not contagious) Cases: We released 20 cases today from isolation. Released cases include: Adair: 2; Casey: 4; Cumberland: 1; Green: 2; Pulaski: 7; Taylor: 3; and, Wayne: 1. In all, we have released 97.4% of our total cases.

Active (Current) Cases: We added 16 more cases today than we had deceased and/or released cases. This leaves us with 141 active cases in our district across 9 of our district’s 10 counties. On 12/10/2020 we were at our peak number of active cases, 1,343.

Where Did Cases Visit Prior to Isolation: The most common places cases visited prior to isolation are (in descending order): Family, Businesses, Medical Facilities, and Schools. Of our active cases, 8% can not be tied back to another known case (community-spread cases).

New Cases: We report that our total case count has increased by 36 today: Adair: 5; Casey: 4; Clinton: 1; Green: 1; Pulaski: 11; Russell: 5; Taylor: 4; and, Wayne: 5. Our current new case growth rate is: 1.001. This means our total case count is projected to double every 787.68 days. The most new cases we ever added in a single day was on 12/30/2020 when we added 301 cases.

Today’s new cases include:

Adair: A 50-year-old male who is self-isolated, still symptomatic;
Adair: A 26-year-old female who is self-isolated, still symptomatic;
Adair: A 8-year-old male who is self-isolated, still symptomatic;
Adair: A 13-year-old female who is self-isolated, still symptomatic;
Adair: A 10-year-old female who is self-isolated, Asymptomatic;
Casey: A 14-year-old male who is self-isolated, still symptomatic;
Casey: A 89-year-old male who is hospitalized, still symptomatic;
Casey: A 27-year-old male who is self-isolated, still symptomatic;
Casey: A 32-year-old male who is self-isolated, still symptomatic;
Clinton: A 32-year-old female who is self-isolated, still symptomatic;
Green: A 29-year-old female who is released, Asymptomatic;
Pulaski: A 21-year-old female who is self-isolated, Lost to follow up;
Pulaski: A 54-year-old male who is self-isolated, still symptomatic;
Pulaski: A 79-year-old male who is self-isolated, Asymptomatic;
Pulaski: A 60-year-old female who is self-isolated, still symptomatic;
Pulaski: A 37-year-old female who is self-isolated, still symptomatic;
Pulaski: A 43-year-old female who is self-isolated, still symptomatic;
Pulaski: A 27-year-old male who is self-isolated, still symptomatic;
Pulaski: A 5-year-old female who is self-isolated, still symptomatic;
Pulaski: A 8-year-old male who is self-isolated, still symptomatic;
Pulaski: A 74-year-old male who is self-isolated, still symptomatic;
Pulaski: A 2-year-old female who is self-isolated, still symptomatic;
Russell: A 53-year-old female who is self-isolated, still symptomatic;
Russell: A 4-year-old female who is self-isolated, still symptomatic;
Russell: A 49-year-old male who is self-isolated, still symptomatic;
Russell: A 29-year-old male who is self-isolated, still symptomatic;
Russell: A 13-year-old female who is self-isolated, still symptomatic;
Taylor: A 44-year-old female who is self-isolated, still symptomatic;
Taylor: A 26-year-old male who is self-isolated, still symptomatic;
Taylor: A 54-year-old male who is released, 5/03/21;
Taylor: A 12-year-old male who is self-isolated, still symptomatic;
Wayne: A 83-year-old male who is self-isolated, Asymptomatic;
Wayne: A 53-year-old female who is self-isolated, still symptomatic;
Wayne: A 26-year-old male who is self-isolated, still symptomatic;
Wayne: A 1-year-old male who is self-isolated, still symptomatic;
Wayne: A 3-year-old female who is self-isolated, still symptomatic

Despite COVID-19 vaccines being abundantly available in our district, and despite Lake Cumberland’s death rate (1.92%) from COVID-19 being higher than the state average (1.46%), and the national average (1.78%); and, despite our hospitalization rate (5.58%) being higher than the state average (4.93%), our district is showing a particularly poor uptake rate for the COVID-19 vaccine. Of the total population of the state, the federal COVID-19 vaccination dashboard shows that 41% of Kentuckians have had at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Unfortunately, every county in our district is below the state average (with McCreary being in the bottom 5 counties in the state). For our district, here is where we are:

• Taylor – 33.23%
• Pulaski – 31.72%
• Russell – 30.88%
• Green – 27.89%
• Cumberland – 26.98%
• Adair – 25.06%
• Wayne – 25.04%
• Casey – 22.67%
• Clinton – 21.92%
• McCreary – 19.93% (one of the bottom 5 counties in the state)

We added more cases today than for the same time period last week, so our 7-day average incidence rate per 100,000 went up slightly. Our 7-day average incidence chart is now showing 1 county in the “green-on-track” range, McCreary; 5 counties in the “yellow-community-spread” category, Adair, Clinton, Cumberland, Green, and Wayne; and 4 counties in the “orange-accelerated” range of community-spread: Casey, Pulaski, Russell, and Taylor. We are thankful to not have any “red-critical” counties now. Keep in mind, some of our 7-day-incidence data will be skewed over the next few days as we are reconciling our data against the state data.

Don’t forget that at both the world level and in several states, we are seeing sharp increases in new COVID-19 cases. Therefore, please do not assume that the pandemic is completely behind us and take the vaccine as soon as you can.

Also, until the vaccine is widely available, and a significant percentage of the population has taken it, let’s all do our part in slowing the spread of COVID-19 by wearing our face coverings, avoiding crowds (especially in confined spaces), social distancing when around others, increasing our hand hygiene, increasing our general sanitation, and by avoiding touching our faces.