Kentucky recorded 8,571 new positive COVID-19 cases Saturday through Monday, and 88 total deaths. Three of the deaths were among people in their early twenties, the state said.
There were 626 cases across five Northern Kentucky counties during that span: 264 in Kenton, 203 in Boone, 123 in Campbell, 21 in Grant, and 15 in Pendleton.
There are currently 2,254 people hospitalized across the state including 654 in intensive care units and 452 on ventilators.
The state’s positivity rate is 12.18% as of Monday.
Governor Andy Beshear warned that the state will receive only 4,960 monoclonal antibody treatment courses this week due to a national shortage of the COVID treatment.
Kentucky administered more than 5,000 courses last week, he said.
“We will have at least one monoclonal antibody treatment provider in each of our Area Development Districts, but there’s not going to be enough anywhere,” said Beshear. “If you’re putting off a vaccine to have an infusion, let me tell you, an infusion is much more invasive, and there are not going to be enough of those anywhere in the commonwealth. Get that vaccine.”
“While we hope that our weekly case numbers are plateauing, we cannot sustain a plateau at this level with the number of people it would put in the hospital,” said Beshear. “On any given day, we’ve only got between 90 and 120 total open adult ICU beds in the state. And that’s with many outpatient and elective procedures canceled to allow more space in the hospital to be converted to ICU units. This cannot become business as usual.”
“This is like a war zone to us. We have staff members experience PTSD, just as a soldier would in the time of war,” said Sherrie Mays, MSN, RN, vice president and chief nursing officer at Baptist Health Corbin. “My heart breaks for my staff. I see them out there working every day. They put this hospital and the patients ahead of their families so that our patients can be taken care of.
“If you have the vaccine, your case is going to be milder. You can’t think that this is just the flu and you’re going to stay home and take care of it. It is COVID, and we have to address it early on.”
Number of people who have received at least one vaccine dose in Kentucky: 2,652,144.
Number of people who received at least one vaccine dose since Friday: 13,752.
From March 1 to Sept. 15, 87.1% of COVID-19 cases, 92.1% of COVID-19 hospitalizations and 84.6% of COVID-19 deaths in Kentucky have been among those who are unvaccinated or partially vaccinated.
The governor reported that 59% of all Kentuckians, including those that are too young to be eligible, have gotten at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose; 70% of Kentuckians 12 or older, or 70%, of all eligible Kentuckians, have gotten at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose; and 72% of Kentucky adults have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose.
-Staff report