Clinton County’s COVID-19 case numbers continued to climb during the most recent week of reports released by the Lake Cumberland District Health Department, before stabilizing somewhat at the end of the holiday shortened reporting week.
After reaching a high of 159 active cases on Tuesday of last week, the case number had dropped somewhat by Friday.
On Tuesday, 36 new cases were added to the local numbers, with 20 cases being released that same day, bringing that day’s total to 159.
That case count was a new record high for Clinton County since the beginning of the pandemic, topping the previous record of 150 that had occurred just last Friday, September 3.
On Friday, however, just 10 new cases were added while on that same report, 45 cases were released as being no longer contagious, bringing the total active case number here down to 123.
Friday’s report was the last report for the most recent week of case tallying by the LCDHD, as no reports are released on Saturday and Sunday, with Monday being Labor Day with no reporting as well.
For the week, Clinton County saw 80 new cases added to its numbers, while during the same time period there were 100 cases released.
One patient from Clinton County was being treated for COVID-19 in a hospital.
There were no additional deaths reported among Clinton County patients, according to the LCDHD.
During the pandemic, there have been 33 patients from Clinton County who have died from the disease, according to health officials.
While Clinton County remains far behind most of the counties in the 10 county LCDHD in terms of vaccination rates, the percentage here did climb slightly over the past week.
Some 30.07 percent of Clinton County residents have been vaccinated, putting the county next to last in the district, just ahead of McCreary County.
The state vaccination rate is listed as 57 percent.

Schools were once again listed as the most common place that patients had visited prior to isolation.
Clinton County school officials opted to shut down in-person classes all of last week in an effort to slow the spread of the disease among students and staff.
With the long Labor Day holiday weekend, it was hoped that the number of cases among students would slow down and drop enough to allow students to remain in class when they returned on Tuesday of this week.
In addition, athletic events scheduled for last week on Monday through Friday were canceled or postponed.
Several schools in the state made similar shutdown moves all of last week as well.
The agency continues to urge people who test positive to begin the self isolation period on their own, rather than waiting until being contacted by officials from the LCDHD.
That message was repeated during the past week’s case reports to the media and public, for the second consecutive week.
“Due to the continued increase in positive cases ,it may be several days before you are contacted by the health department. If you’ve tested positive for COVID-19, please isolate yourself immediately, do NOT wait on a call from the health department,” the report noted. “Please notify anyone you may have been in contact with so they can begin quarantine. Visit www.lcdhd.org for more specific COVID-19 guidance.”
Vaccinations against the virus are now readily available at several locations in Albany.
Vaccination appointments through The Med Center at Albany are available, and those vaccines are now being given on site at the local hospital.
Appointments for getting the vaccine may be obtained by texting  SHOT to 606-387-3646 or by emailing AlbanyVaccine@mchealth.net, or by calling 606-387-3646 and leaving a message.
Vaccines are also now available again at the Clinton County Health Department.
Vaccination appointments through the Clinton County Health Department, or more information about the vaccines being offered and the vaccination dates and times, may be obtained by calling 606-387-5711.
Vaccines are also available at all Albany pharmacies and those seeking a vaccine are urged to call your favorite pharmacy for information.
In addition to Clinton County’s current 123 cases, numbers across the 10 county LCDHD district, along with the number of patients being treated in area hospitals in parentheses, if any, were: Adair 131 (4), Casey 172 (5), Cumberland 70 (3), Green 112 (2), McCreary 127 (6), Pulaski 408 (15), Russell 312 (5), Taylor 242 (11), Wayne 122 (4),