By TOM LATEK, Kentucky Today
FRANKFORT, KY - On a day that a ceremony was held on the Capitol grounds to mark the one year anniversary of Kentucky’s first positive COVID-19 case, one of the highest number of deaths were reported.
There were 52 new deaths reported by state public health officials on Saturday, believed to be among the top five totals for a single day, but well below the single day record of 69 set on Jan. 28. That brings the pandemic total to 4,806.
Information on the locations and ages of the latest victims was not available.
The number of new cases dropped to 840 on Saturday, 80 fewer cases than were reported on Friday, raising the pandemic total to 410,184, since the first case was reported in Harrison County on March 6, 2020.
Jefferson County, with 171 new cases, was the only county that had more than 100 new cases. The rest of the top ten counties were Fayette 64, Kenton 35, Scott 34, Boone 32, Laurel 25, Rowan 22, Perry 21, while Campbell and Russell counties each had 20.
The number of Kentuckians hospitalized on Saturday were 591. Of them, 171 were in the ICU and 72 were on a ventilator. All three numbers are down from Friday.
The state’s positivity rate also continued its decline, standing at 4.00% on Saturday, based on a seven-day rolling average.
Vaccinations continue to be a big part of the Governor’s battle against the coronavirus, and Gov. Andy Beshear says the number of Kentuckians getting one of the three versions available continues to rise.
“One year to the day of our first case, we have over 800,000 Kentuckians who have received at least their first shot of hope,” he stated on Saturday. “We are going to vaccinate every single adult, everybody who qualifies, by the end of May. But we must continue to follow the health guidance. Now is not the time to take off the mask, when there are so many more that are counting on us.”
To see the full daily COVID-19 report for Kentucky, which includes such information as the red zone counties and red zone recommendations, testing locations, vaccine information, the weekly White House Coronavirus Task Force reports for Kentucky, executive orders, and other information on the state’s pandemic response, go to kycovid19.ky.gov.
Gov. Beshear’s next scheduled live press briefing on COVID-19 is Monday afternoon at 4:00, although he is expected to send out daily numbers today (Sunday).
