On Tuesday, health officials announced 15,305 new COVID-19 cases were diagnosed in Kentucky over the previous 24 hours, the second highest number of cases reported in a single day.
The 15,300-plus cases on Tuesday are only outpaced by Friday’s 16,130 new cases. Of the new cases, 3,428 (22.4 percent) were children 18 and younger.
The state has now had 1,100,097 cases of the virus since the beginning of the pandemic.
Officials reported 23 deaths, raising the commonwealth’s death toll to 12,786 (1.2 percent fatality rate).
The positivity rate dropped slightly from Monday’s 33.06 percent to 33 percent on Tuesday.
Since December 27, the number of people hospitalized has risen from 1,330 to 2,397 (up 80.2 percent), while patients in ICUs increased from 342 to 452 (up 32.2 percent). The number of people on ventilators rose from 203 to 272 (up 34 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 235.87 per 100,000 residents, up from Monday’s 227.6.
The state’s lowest incident rate is Wayne County’s 61.1, more than twice the number of cases needed to be considered in the “red.”
The highest incident rate in Kentucky is nearby Muhlenberg County’s 430.1. Also nearby, Hopkins County is second in the state with an incident rate of 422.3
By Ken Howlett, News Director
Contact Ken at ken@k105.com
