COVID-19

After several weeks of seeing cases of COVID-19 trend upward, and then sharply spike upward in Clinton County, the trend leveled off somewhat late last week and even began what appeared to be a slight downward turn.

Having reached an all-time high of 103 active cases when case totals were calculated last Tuesday, the Lake Cumberland District Health Department reported that Clinton County has 67 active cases as of Tuesday morning of this week.

Also, as of Tuesday morning, it was reported that Clinton County had seven patients who were hospitalized with COVID-19.

Sadly, during the past week, it has been the deadliest week-long period yet for Clinton County, as there have been at least five additional deaths bringing the total number of COVID-19 deaths here to 14.

The most recent deaths reported by the LCDHD was an 82 year-old male reported on the Wednesday, November 18 Public Information Brief, followed by the report of the death of a 97 year-old female on Friday.

On Monday’s information brief, the LCDHD reported three Clinton County deaths due to COVID-19, including an 86 year-old female who had been a long term care resident an 80 year-old male who had been a long-term care resident, and an 81 year old male who had recently been hospitalized.

During the past week, the ratio of new COVID-19 patients, or those listed as “current” active cases, compared to cases that had been released, was much more favorable than from the previous week, with 57 new cases compared to 83 that were released.

By comparison, during the previous week, Tuesday, November 10 through Monday, November 16, Clinton County saw 82 new cases added to it’s count, with only 23 being released during that same time period.

According to the LCDHD, Clinton County’s seven day average incidence rate per 100,000 had also dropped significantly during the past week, compared to the week before.

As of Tuesday morning Clinton County’s seven day incident rate was 81.09, making it the fifth highest rate in the 10 county region, compared with the previous week when Clinton County had the highest rate in the region with 114.64.

Other seven day incident rates in the LCDHD as of Tuesday morning were: Taylor, 108.66; Russell, 89.27; Casey, 81.33; Wayne, 80.09; Adair, 76.63; Green, 75.73; Cumberland, 73.44; Pulaski, 84.64; McCreary, 69.64.

Those numbers placed all 10 counties in the LCDHD within the highest “red-critical” zone.

Clinton County, as of Tuesday morning, had been listed in the “red-critical” zone for some 53 consecutive days.

In Monday’s information brief, in addition to Clinton County’s current COVID-19 cases, other counties in the LCDHD region’s case counts, and the number of hospitalized patients in parentheses, were: Adair 91 (9), Casey 61 (2), Cumberland 30 (6), Green 49 (3), McCreary (0), Pulaski 315 (18), Russell 116 (5), Taylor 168 (12) and Wayne 91 (5).

Amy Tomlinson, spokesperson for LCDHD, noted in it’s most recent public information brief, that the growth rate in the region continued to pick up, but she added that the trend could still be slowed by the public taking the suggested precautions.

“In summary, while our growth rate has continued to progressively pick up steam, for deaths and hospitalizations, there was a slow-down along the way, but both have really accelerated of late,” she said. “The hospitalization rate is particularly alarming since we desperately do not want our hospital infrastructures to become overwhelmed. If they do, it will not only be COVID-19 patients not getting appropriate care, but patients needing other services as well.

“We continue to call upon all of our community leaders and citizens to face this challenge with the utmost seriousness before our medical infrastructures are compromised. There is hope! It is within our power to impact the spread of COVID-19,” she added. “Please, let’s all do our part in slowing the spread of COVID-19 by wearing our face coverings, avoiding crowds (especially in confined spaces), social distancing when around others, increasing our hand hygiene, increasing our general sanitation, and by avoiding the touching of our faces.”