On March 8th, 2020, a new disease was reported for the first time in Lexington, according to Kevin Hall, spokesman for the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department.
“In those four years, we've had 132,025 confirmed cases. And unfortunately, we've had 828 deaths. So whether you believe in COVID or you think it's overhyped, you still cannot take away that 828 families have been irreversibly changed in the last four years. And so our hearts go out to them.”
Across the commonwealth, nearly 20,000 deaths have been attributed to COVID-19.
Lexington’s four-year anniversary came one week after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued new recommendations for COVID-19 and other potentially deadly respiratory illnesses. Hall says they’re intended, in part, to reduce the strain on medical providers.
“The biggest takeaway with the new recommendations is that you can return to normal activities when symptoms have improved after 24 hours. This is a really important part – if a fever is present, it needs to be gone at least 24 hours without the use of a fever reducing medicines.”
Hall notes case numbers don’t reflect positives from home COVID tests. He says hospitalizations and deaths are down compared to this time last year or the year before, and there’s one big reason for that – and a lesson for the future.
“What that tells us public health officials is that the vaccine works. We said all along that the vaccine is not going to necessarily keep you from getting COVID. A, it will provide protection, but if you do get COVID, your symptoms will be less severe, and you are far less likely to end up hospitalized from this.”
CDC March 1 respiratory illness guidance
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