Adair County has lost the third person in two weeks due to COVID-19 and a number of records were broken this past week as cases continue to spread across the community, region and state.
Locally, a 57-year-old female died last Thursday due to the coronavirus, bringing the county’s death toll to 23. The Lake Cumberland 10-county district broke the record for number of cases in one day two times this week, experiencing 76 new cases last Wednesday, followed by 80 new cases the following day.
Adair County experienced 63 new cases during a seven-day period ending this past Tuesday. As of Tuesday, there were 79 current cases in the county with four people hospitalized. There were seven people hospitalized on three separate days this past week.
Last week ending Friday was the highest at both the state and district level for the number of new cases since the onset of the outbreak.
In the 10-county Lake Cumberland district, cases are tied to, in descending order, schools, businesses, family and places of worship.
On Monday, Gov. Andy Beshear made a number of recommendations for counties considered in the “red-critical” range of community spread, which is determined by having 25 or more positive cases within a 100,000 population.
On Tuesday, Adair, Russell, Taylor, Green, Cumberland and Clinton counties were all listed as “red-critical” in the district.
Beshear made the following recommendations Monday:
- Employers allow employees to work from home when possible
• Non-critical government offices to operate virtually
• Reduce in-person shopping; order online or curbside pickup
• Order take-out; avoid dining in restaurants or bars
• Prioritize businesses that follow and enforce mask mandate and other guidelines
• Reschedule, postpone, or cancel public and private events
• Do not host or attend gatherings of any size
• Avoid non-essential activities outside your home
• Reduce overall activity and contracts, and follow existing guidance, including 10 steps to defeat COVID-19.
On Tuesday, Beshear asked people to only trick-or-treat with immediate family. He also asked communities in red zones to prepare a weekly “COVID-19 reduction plan” based on each Thursday’s incidence rate map.
If you’re in a red county, anything you don’t need to do, don’t. Stay home as much as possible,” Gov. Beshear said. “Schools shouldn’t be the only ones that are taking these steps. When you coordinate these two responses, the schools and the community together, we can get the best result.”
The state reported 1,786 new cases Tuesday, a positivity rate of 5.97 percent, with 913 people hospitalized, 233 currently in ICU and 115 on a ventilator. There have been 1,428 deaths statewide.
Several hospitals were reporting that beds dedicated to COVID-19 patients were at capacity.
The state’s daily report can be see online at kycovid19.ky.gov.
The Lake Cumberland District Health Department reports can be found online at www.lcdhd.org. Daily reports are available at adairvoice.com.
