CDC says 4 Kentucky counties have high levels of Covid-19 transmission; 21 counties have medium levels - Health News

 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention map, showing 25 counties with 
elevated risk of Covid-19 in Kentucky. 

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

Four Kentucky counties are red on the latest Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's national Covid-19 risk map, indicating a high level of coronavirus transmission. Twenty-one Kentucky counties are yellow, indicating a medium level of transmission. 

The red counties are McCracken in Western Kentucky and Greenup, Boyd and Lawrence in the eastern part of the state. McCracken County was the only red county on last week's map. 

While making reference to last weeks map at a news conference held prior to the release of the latest map, Gov. Andy Beshear said "we should be a little bit concerned" with red counties on the CDC's map since it looks at both cases and hospital capacity. 

"The recommendations are that people consider wearing masks at that point," he said. "It is a wise decision to make." 

In addition to wearing masks in indoor public spaces, state guidelines also recommend limiting in-person gatherings, limiting the size of gatherings and encourages social distancing. 

The yellow counties are Ballard, Carlisle, Hickman, Graves, Livingston, Marshall, Crittenden, Lyon, Hardin, Jefferson, Anderson, Woodford, Fayette, Scott, Menifee, Morgan, Rowan, Elliott, Carter, Martin, and Pike. Last week there were 33 yellow counties in Kentucky.  

The CDC says people in yellow counties who are immunocompromised, or at high risk for severe illness from the virus, should talk to a health-care provider about whether they need to wear a mask or take other precautions.

The cluster of yellow and red counties in Eastern Kentucky border a large cluster of red and yellow counties in West Virginia. 

In a newsletter for The Washington Post, Philip Bump says it's important to look at both the CDC's weekly risk map that includes cases, Covid-19 hospitalizations and hospital capacity along with the community transmission map, largely because hospitalizations follow infections. He says the CDC risk map, when viewed alone, presents "a much more sanguine picture of the state of the pandemic than is really the case." 

Last week, State Public Health Commissioner Steven Stack encouraged Kentuckians to use the CDC risk map to determine the level of coronavirus risk in their communities, saying that at this time the seven-day infection rate map that looks at cases per 100,000 people in each county is largely used by people who do research, the media and for others who are tracking the disease. "This is not the decision making map anymore," he said.  

Asked about this difference of opinion, Susan Dunlap, spokeswoman for the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, expounded on several points Stack made at that same press conference to support using the CDC map for community transmission guidance. She wrote: 

• Both the reported incidence of Covid-19 and percent positivity have continued to increase at a slow and steady rate from very low levels in mid-April. However, although we are seeing more spread of Covid-19 in the community, this is not yet corresponding to large increases in severe disease.
• Hospitalization trends remain both low and stable. We continue to regularly monitor hospital census data for Covid-19 patients, ICU admissions, and ventilator usage. We also monitor syndromic surveillance reports from hospital encounters and emergency department visits. All consistently show that the hospital burden of Covid-19 remains well below levels of concern.
• Although many counties are now at “moderate” (yellow), “substantial” (orange), and even “high” (red) levels on the incidence rate map, most of these jurisdictions remain “low” (green) on the [CDC's] Covid-19 Community Levels map. The Covid-19 Community Levels [map] combine incidence with hospital admissions data to estimate the overall burden of Covid-19 in the community. These specific metrics were selected for this tool because they most accurately predicted future hospital burden of Covid-19. 

"We continue to recommend that Kentuckians use this Covid-19 Community Levels tool to stay informed on the Covid-19 impact in their communities and follow the corresponding guidance based on their local level of community burden," she said in an e-mail.

This weeks increase in red counties comes at a time when coronavirus cases continue to escalate in Kentucky, although at a slightly slower rate than the week before. In addition, the share of Kentuckians testing positive for the virus jumped to 10.52%, up from 9.35% the week before. Hospitalizations remained low, and deaths, a lagging indicator, went down. 

"We should be watching it. We don't believe that currently what we're seeing is cause for concern, but we should certainly be paying attention," said Beshear

Beshear attributed fewer people being hospitalized with the virus to the number of Kentuckians who have been vaccinated, boosted or acquired natural immunity from being infected. 

He noted while fewer Kentuckians are getting the Covid-19 vaccine at this time, this number has ticked up. The Post reports that Kentucky gave 3,704 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine per day in the last week, an 8% increase over the week before. 

"This is the first day we can report to you that two-thirds of all Kentuckians have had at least one shot," he said. 

So far, the state reports that 2.9 million Kentuckians have received at least one Covid-19 vaccination, or 66% of the total population; 77% of those 18 and older have received at least one shot; and 70% of those five and older have done so. 

In other good news, Beshear said the number of  Kentuckians who are 75 and older who have received at least one shot went up one percentage point, to 94%. This age-group is among the most vulnerable to the virus. 

"Remember, if you're over 50, you're eligible for that second booster," he said. "Please go get it." 

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