With Kentucky announcing 5,133 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, the Delta variant surge continued as the state recorded 20,098 cases of the virus between Monday and Friday of last week.
Over the last three days of the week, the commonwealth had 15,422 cases, or about 5,140 per day.
State health officials said that for the first time since the pandemic began, Kentucky had fewer than 100 ICU beds available for two straight days –There were only 95 intensive care beds open Friday after only 93 ICU beds were available on Thursday.
Friday also marked the most ever ventilator patients in Kentucky, as officials reported 463 people were on the breathing device.
Kentucky last week reported 209 deaths between Monday and Friday, nearly 42 deaths per day, and during the last three days of last week, the commonwealth had 156 COVID-related deaths, 52 per day.
Officials said 2,426 people are hospitalized, down 27 from Thursday. There are 647 patients in ICUs, down 20.
One positive note, the positivity rate ended the week at 12.88 percent, marking seven straight days the key metric has declined.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, Kentucky has recorded 649,691 COVID cases and 8,251 deaths (1.3 percent fatality rate).
By Ken Howlett, News Director
Contact Ken at ken@k105.com
