Ky. COVID cases on the rise

KENTUCKY (WFIE) - Western Kentucky health leaders are seeing a spike in COVID-19 cases.

The Green River District Health Department reports in the last week, 647 people tested positive for the virus.

The highest portion of those positive cases is out of Daviess County with 364.

Two people died from COVID-19.

The report shows one of them lived in Daviess County. The other lived in Ohio County.

The district’s average number of new cases last week rose to 92 new cases per day.

The Kentucky map shows Henderson, Daviess, Webster, Hopkins, Muhlenberg, and Ohio Counties are all in red, or a high incidence rate.

”People did have the impression that COVID was over,” said Clay Horton with the Green River District Health Department. “I think us at the health department here and a lot of folks knew that that wasn’t the case.”

COVID-19 has not gone away. Horton says it’s important to notice there is still a risk and this spike was not a surprise.

“We know that a lot of folks now are at a phase where they aren’t motivated to test, even if they aren’t feeling well,” said Horton. “So when we see this rapid increase, this trend of more and more reported cases, we know that something is going on in the community. We think that the average person should take notice and make sure that they’re taking the steps to protect themselves.”

Deaconess Dr. Carli Thomas says she’s seeing the uptick firsthand with positive cases in her Henderson clinic.

Because of that, she’s still recommending the COVID-19 vaccine for extra protection, and her clinic is now offering them to children six months and older.

“We are seeing that all vaccine doses are still providing a good protection against severe disease and hospitalizations,” said Thomas.

She says some might’ve thought they were safe from COVID and although she doesn’t anticipate another nationwide mask mandate or shut down, she says it’s still important to take the right steps when you start to feel sick.

“Practice good hand hygiene and if you are feeling sick keep some home tests or go to your local pharmacy or doctor and get tested because obviously prevention is going to be the best protection we have,” said Thomas.

The health leaders add that new variants, plus inside gatherings from the hot weather, are just a few reasons why we’re seeing a rise in case numbers right now.

They both expect this trend of dramatic increases and decreases to continue.

Copyright 2022 WFIE. All rights reserved.