Clinton County reached another milestone of sorts this week in the COVID-19 scene, and in a not-so-often style, this milestone was actually one of a positive nature.

According to the latest figures from the Kentucky Public Health Department, Clinton County is now 40.14 percent vaccinated against the COVID-19 disease, after hovering at the 39 percent level for over a week.

Still, even at a 40 percent vaccination rate, Clinton County continues to lag far behind the remainder of the state, which is currently listed at a total vaccination rate of 61 percent.

As far as the case numbers for Clinton County are concerned over the past week, an issue with the program used by the Lake Cumberland District Health Department to compile statistics experienced some glitches last week

That issue may have resulted in a period during the past seven days where case numbers may have been skewed somewhat.

Sam Price, the LCDHD Public Health Preparedness Manager and the spokesperson for the agency, explained to the Clinton County News that the issue was a multi-level one that included some older cases that had been given to the district by the state that had never been included in the local data.

In addition, Price noted that many of those cases had been added and released from the local stats at the same time.

“We are trying to clean up this data and accurately represent our cases, but it seems we may have some discrepancies for a while as we sort through this,” Price said.

According to the most recent totals released by the LCDHD, as of Tuesday morning, Clinton County currently has 53 patients being treated for the COVID-19 disease.

Of those, three patients are hospitalized, meaning 50 patients are in self isolation.

To date, Clinton County has seen 2,127 known cases of COVID-19 among its population.

There was also another sad aspect to last week’s daily statistic reports, when on last Tuesday, October 5, the agency reported that a patient from Clinton County, who had been suffering from COVID-19, has passed away.

That death, reportedly an unvaccinated patient, increased the number of deaths from the disease since the beginning of the pandemic to 34 among Clinton County residents.

Looking again at Clinton County’s vaccination statistics, at the current rate of just over 40 percent of the total local population being vaccinated, that translates to some 4,101 local citizens who have received one of the approved vaccines against COVID-19.

Among the local population who are 18 years old or older, 3,985 have been vaccinated, or 50 percent, while among residents over the age of 65, 1,354, or 67.10 percent, have been vaccinated.

The vaccination figures are based on a county population of 10,218.

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 most Albany pharmacies and those seeking a vaccine are urged to call your favorite pharmacy for information.

In addition to Clinton County’s current 53 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 52 (6), Casey 32 (3), Cumberland 24 (6), Green 38 (11), McCreary 79 (9), Pulaski 149 (32), Russell 61 (3), Taylor 77 (7), Wayne 62 (7).