Covid-19 cases have spiked in many parts of the nation, including Kentucky ,and especially in the Lake Cumberland District Health Department area.

In addition, two active Clinton County cases were confirmed last week, the second one of the week being announced last Thursday, July 2, in the LCDHD daily public information brief.

However on Monday’s public information brief, one of those two active cases had been moved to the “released” category, listed as recovered, and leaving just one active case in Clinton County for the LCDHD’s most recent reporting period.

The two most recent announced Clinton County cases were both patients who were self-isolated, listed as asymptomatic, one being a 56 year old female and the second being a 64 year old female.

Monday’s report didn’t note which of those two patients had been released.

The two active cases announced last week in Clinton County were the first active cases confirmed here since its last case was released back on Friday, June 5, bringing the total number of recovered cases here to five at that time.

The new cases here bring the total cases in Clinton County since the pandemic began to seven.

On Saturday, the LCDHD information brief reported that the district was including 17 new cases and releasing two cases as recovered, while on Sunday, five new cases were added and three were released.

Those numbers resulted in the LCDHD reaching its highest ever number of active cases during the weekend, according to the brief, with 114 active cases on Sunday.

Monday’s district totals remained the same as far as total cases go, at 114, with LCDHD officials reporting the addition of 15 new cases, but also having released 15 cases across the district on Monday as well.

In Saturday’s briefing, Amy Tomlinson, spokesperson for LCDHD, noted that the week beginning Sunday, June 28 through Saturday, July 4, had been the district’s worst week yet.

“This was a week of aggressive growth in our area for COVID-19. We had more new cases and currently have more active cases than at any point since the onset of the outbreak,” Tomlinson noted. “For the week, our active cases jumped by 38 (from 74 to 112). This happened despite us releasing 37 cases as recovered since we added 75 new cases this week.”

She also pointed out the rise in the district’s growth rate, which had reached an alarming level last week.

“While our present cumulative total cases are still only a fraction of our total population, the current growth rate of 1.03 is concerning,” she said. “At a 1.03 growth rate, our total cumulative case count is projected to double about every 23 days.”

Tomlinson also said that the increase in cases involved a heavy outbreak in a Casey County nursing home.

“Fortunately, we had no new deaths this week and our hospitalization rate remains in a manageable region,” Tomlinson said. “However, with additional outbreaks occurring in nursing homes (Casey County is the latest nursing home cluster), additional hospitalizations could soon occur.”

Monday totals in the 10 county Lake Cumberland District saw the most cases in Adair County, where officials note that another outbreak has occurred in a nursing home there.

Adair was shown with 29 current cases, 27 of which were self-isolated with two hospitalizations. However, it was noted that those category totals could quickly change as most of the 29 cases there involved nursing home patients.

Pulaski County was the next highest COVID-19 “hot-spot” with 26 cases, all self-isolated, followed by 23 cases in Casey County with 20 self-isolated and 17 in Russell County, all but one in self-isolation.

Taylor County was listed with nine cases, seven self-isolated, Wayne County with six, all self-isolated, Green County with three and Clinton with one, all of those being in the self-isolated category.

Cumberland County and McCreary County were the only two counties that did not have confirmed cases in Monday’s LCDHD report.

Officials again reminded the public of the best practices to avoid getting the COVID-19 virus, and also again stressed the importance of wearing a mask or face covering as the best way to prevent the spread of the virus.

“We remind everyone that our best chance for slowing the spread is for everyone to wear a mask when out in public, to avoid crowds, to social distance (stay 6-feet from others), to wash their hands with soap and water often and thoroughly, to stay home if they have a fever or are coughing, to increase sanitation, and to avoid touching their faces,” the report noted.