State’s COVID positivity rate at almost 27%

FRANKFORT, Ky. (WTVQ) – The omicron-driven COVID surge officially has engulfed the entire state as every county now is in the ‘red’ category for high incidence rates.

And Tuesday’s state report (click), only supported the ongoing surge.

The state announced 9,450 new cases with another record positivity rate of 26.79% Of the new cases, 2,348 are in people 18 and under. The positivity rate was up from 26.33% Monday, 24.45% Friday and 23.67% last Wednesday.

Gov. Andy Beshear said Kentucky reported 52,603 new COVID-19 cases last week, the highest weekly total ever by nearly 22,000 cases. The second highest week for new cases was the week ending Sept. 5, 2021, when 30,680 cases were reported.

The state has listed 941,986 total cases since March 2020.

Tuesday’s report also included nine deaths, raising the number of state residents lost to COVID-related causes to 12,434.

The number of patients in hospitals, in intensive care and on ventilators also continue to climb, almost exponentially. The report listed 1,953 people in the hospital, up from 1,873 Monday and 1,856 Friday; 449 in ICU compared to 452 Monday and 423 Friday; and 237 on ventilators, compared to 238 Monday and 223 Friday.

The biggest strain so far on hospitals remains in ICU capacity with all but one of the state’s 10 medical regions reporting ICU capacity filled above 85%. Of ICU capacity, all 10 regions are using at least 20% of capacity for COVID cases and two using almost 50%.

Omicron appears to cause less severe illness, particularly among people who are vaccinated. Dr. Stack provided several tips to help Kentuckians during the surge:

1. If you are sick, stay home until you feel better.
2. Get vaccinated or boosted, if eligible. Boosters dramatically bolster your protection against severe disease and death.
3. Wear a well-fitting mask at all times when indoors in public places such school, work, stores, etc.
4. If you think you have COVID-19 and/or have had a high-risk exposure and you are able, get tested.

Dr. Stack also said K-12 schools guidance is changing in light of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updating its K-12 isolation and quarantine guidance last week.

Dr. Stack said, “Most importantly, universal masking is essential with omicron. If universal masking is not required in K-12 schools, omicron will spread rapidly and result in rapid and massive student and staff absences to due illness.”

If a school requires universal masking then it:

1. Does not have to do contact tracing within the school population if a positive person is identified in the school population, and
2. Does not have to quarantine any of the students or staff in the school population due to finding a positive person in the school setting.

In schools that do not require universal masking, the schools are urged to maintain robust contact tracing when positive persons are identified in the school setting and to quarantine all persons not up-to-date on their COVID-19 vaccination if exposed in the school setting.

Regardless of a school’s masking requirements, individuals who test positive should isolate for at least five days.

Individuals who are not up-to-date on their COVID-19 vaccination and who are exposed to COVID-19 at home or outside school should quarantine for at least five days unless participating in a test-to-stay modified quarantine program as described by KDPH.