The omicron variant continues to sweep through Kentucky. The commonwealth is again dealing with tens of thousands of cases. The state’s positivity rate has surpassed 30%, the highest ever recorded.
Gov. Andy Beshear began on a grim note and said that the state recorded more than 72,000 cases of the virus last week. In all, the commonwealth has surpassed more than one million cases.
“The increase is significant, severe…72,165 cases in one week, by far more than any other search that we have had,” Beshear said. “That is more than double the records that we had during the Delta surge.”
The state’s top public health official Dr. Steven Stack discussed the alarming increase.
“We've set other records too over the last 30 days, the number of weekly COVID-19 tests reported to the Kentucky Department for Public Health has risen from about 101,600 all the way up to 190,000,” Stack said. “Over a seven-day period, that's a remarkable 87% increase over the past month.”
The current omicron surge has also sickened 294 prison staff, 392 people incarcerated and a few new cases have been reported in veterans’ homes.
Hospitalizations are nearing levels seen late last summer when they were overwhelmed with cases of the Delta variant. Beshear warned that the National Guard has already been deployed and said the state doesn’t want to see hospitals overrun again.
“And it's pretty simple, get vaccinated, get boosted. And you're very unlikely to end up in the hospital for Omicron,” Beshear said.
Kentucky’s top public health official Dr. Steven Stack said wearing a well fitting mask indoors and getting a booster vaccine is still the best way to prevent the spread. Stack also reminded people to be kind as the state deals with the pandemic.
