On Tuesday, Kentucky health officials announced the state smashed the record for new COVID-19 cases on Saturday, as 14,896 cases were reported, with a combined 40,012 new cases diagnosed between Saturday and Tuesday.
Of the new cases, 9,949 (24.9 percent) were children 18 and younger.
The new cases increase the total number of cases ever in Kentucky to 1,014,703.
Saturday’s record-high cases comes on the heels of the commonwealth reporting all-time highs on January 5 (9,807), January 6 (9,836), January 7 (11,096), January 12 (11,232), and January 14 (13,492).
A combined 96 deaths were reported on Saturday (39), Sunday (23), Monday (18), and Tuesday (16), increasing the state’s death toll to 12,614 (1.2 percent fatality rate).
The positivity rate rose from Friday’s 28.61 to 30.25 on Tuesday, the highest the metric has ever been.
Since December 27, the number of people hospitalized has risen from 1,330 to 2,200 (up 65.4 percent), while patients in ICUs increased from 342 to 431 (up 26 percent). The number of people on ventilators rose from 203 to 244 (up 20.2 percent).
All 120 Kentucky counties are experiencing a “critical spread” of the virus, according to the Kentucky Department for Public Health, as the statewide incident rate is a shockingly high 212.98 per 100,000 residents.
By Ken Howlett, News Director
Contact Ken at ken@k105.com
