Nearly all of eastern Kentucky is currently experiencing a high level of COVID transmission. That’s the case in counties like Perry, Knott, Letcher, Wolfe, Lee, and Owsley. They comprise the Kentucky River Health District. Scott Lockard is the health director. He said the area has seen a ten-fold increase since April.
“Our low point here in Kentucky River District was the week of April 25th to May first. We only had 44 cases in my seven counties. Last week we had 520 cases,” said Lockard.
Lockard said isolation for ten days remains the recommendation with the possibility of shedding the virus still on day nine. With take home testing, the health district representative noted that under-reporting is occurring.
The southeast Kentucky health district official added this might be a time to rethink certain events.
“If I was in a red county right now I would really think twice about going to a large mass gathering that was indoors. You know, outdoor events are typically safer,” said Lockard.
Lockard said the rise in Omicron cases now is mimicking what happened a year ago, right before school started back up. Trissa Wilder is with the Bell County Health Department. She said no COVID cases are found in the local hospital. Wilder said the vaccination rate in her community has declined.
