No holiday for COVID increases in Fayette County

September 7, 2020

Steve Rogers,

FAYETTE COUNTY, Ky. (WTVQ) – The holiday weekend brought no slowing in the growth of new coronavirus cases in Lexington.

According to the Lexington Fayette County Health Department’s daily morning report Monday, the county confirmed 194 new cases during the weekend — 113 Saturday and 81 Sunday — bringing the county’s total to 6,450 since March 8 when the first case was diagnosed in the county.

The county set a record for new cases in August with 2,538 but is starting September on another potential record pace. Five of the nine highest one-day totals came in the first five days of September.

And University of Kentucky students continue to fuel the increase.

Of the weekend numbers, 61 are University of Kentucky students, pushing the number of Fayette County UK students to 1,086.

According to the morning report, 5,279 people have recovered, an increase of 241 from the prior report.

One new death was reported during the weekend, raising the county’s total to 61.

The city’s highest one-day totals to date have been:

• 131 cases, Aug. 7

• 122 cases, Sept. 1

• 120 cases, Sept. 2

• 119 cases, Aug. 28

• 116 cases, July 27

• 113 cases, Sept. 5

• 112 cases, Aug. 27

• 111 cases, Sept. 3

• 110 cases, Sept. 4

• 105 cases, Aug. 4, Aug. 14

• 102 cases, Aug. 26

• 101 cases, Aug. 13

• 100 cases, July 23

• 91 cases, July 31

• 90 cases, Aug. 5

• 89 cases, July 30

• 88 cases, Aug. 29

• 87 cases, Aug. 19

• 86 cases, Aug. 20

• 84 cases, Aug. 6, Aug. 22

• 82 cases, Aug. 1

• 81 cases, Aug. 17, Sept. 6

• 80 cases, Aug. 12

• 74 cases, Aug. 18

• 72 cases, Aug. 23

• 71 cases, Aug. 15

• 69 cases, July 15, July 19, Aug. 8, Aug. 9

• 67 cases, July 26

• 65 cases, July 10

• 63 cases, Aug. 2

• 62 cases, July 6, Aug. 11, Aug. 21, Aug. 24
• 61 cases, July 20
• 58 cases, July 13, Aug. 16, Aug. 25
• 56 cases, July 11
• 54 cases, July 28
• 53 cases, July 22
• 49 cases, July 29, Aug. 10
• 48 cases, July 16, July 18
• 47 cases, July 17, July 24, Aug. 3
• 46 cases, July 1

The health department’s numbers are for UK students who are Fayette County residents and is not a total of all cases at the university. A student who tests positive is considered a Fayette County resident if they live in Fayette County already or elect to stay in Lexington during their isolation.

If they commute to campus from another county or elect to return to their home town for isolation, they are not in the Fayette Health Department’s numbers.

The number of reported cases has grown steadily each month during the outbreak:

110, March
143, April
507, May
793, June
1,702 July
2,538, August

Lexington’s COVID-19 numbers, including charts with demographics, hospitalizations and more, are updated Monday-Saturday at lfchd.org.

Please follow these guidelines to help protect others by slowing the spread of COVID-19:
• Wash your hands often
• Avoid close contact with others
• Wear a cloth face covering in public