On Friday, Kentucky health officials reported 13,492 new COVID-19 cases, the most cases announced in a single day.
Previously, record-high number of cases were reported on January 5 (9,807), January 6 (9,836), January 7 (11,096), and January 12 (11,232).
Of the new cases, 3,310 (24.5 percent) are children 18 and under. The new cases increase the total number of cases ever diagnosed in Kentucky to 975,346.
Thirty-five new deaths were announced, raising the state’s death toll to 12,518 (1.3 percent fatality rate).
Kentucky’s positivity rate checked in at 28.61, up from Thursday’s 27.77 and the highest the metric has ever been.
Over the last 18 days, the number of people hospitalized has risen from 1,330 to 2,126 (up 59.8 percent), while patients in ICUs increased from 342 to 466 (up 36.2 percent). The number of people on ventilators rose from 203 to 226 (up 11.3 percent).
All 120 of Kentucky’s counties are in the “red,” as the state’s rate of occurrence is 180.7 cases per 100,000 population, well up from Thursday’s 168.9. A rate of occurrence over 25.0 indicates a “critical spread” of the virus.
According to the Grayson County Health Department, the county had 57 new cases in fewer than 24 hours (between Wednesday and Thursday), skyrocketing the county’s incident rate to 125.4 on Friday, up nearly 60 points from Thursday’s 87.6.
There have now been 5,829 COVID cases diagnosed in Grayson County since the onset of the pandemic.
By Ken Howlett, News Director
Contact Ken at ken@k105.com
