In the first five days of August, Kentucky recorded 8,558 newly confirmed positive cases of COVID-19.
In the first five days of July, just one month ago, there were a total of 769.
On Thursday, St. Elizabeth Healthcare joined ten other hospital organizations from across the state in announcing a requirement for employees to be vaccinated.
The hospital systems pledged that they are, “are committed to the health and safety of our patients and employees. In support of this commitment, we will all require our health care workforce to initiate a complete COVID-19 vaccination series no later than Sept. 15, 2021.”
“With the onset of the new, highly contagious delta variant and recent surges in COVID cases in our facilities and in our communities, we must ensure that all of our associates are protected,” said Gary Blank, executive vice president and chief operating officer at St. Elizabeth Healthcare. “We must do our part to keep our patients and communities safe. As health care providers, we must lead by example in creating the safest environment possible for all those we serve, and vaccines provide the strongest protection against the virus by reducing and preventing the spread among patients and peers.”
There are three highly effective COVID-19 vaccines widely available in Kentucky.
“We have an opportunity for more prosperity, more potential than ever before in my lifetime. We can have the Kentucky that we have always dreamed of. We have that potential at our fingertips,” said Gov. Beshear. “But if we are truly going to realize that opportunity, we must win our war against COVID. If we are going to defeat and not just delay COVID-19, there is one and only one answer. That answer is vaccinations. So each decision that we make has to gauge the impact on getting the unvaccinated to take that shot.”
Current data shows Kentucky at 53% of its population with at least one dose of a vaccine (two of the vaccines require two doses spaces weeks apart, while another requires only one shot).
The population over the age of 65, which had been hit hardest by the virus pandemic, is at 84% with at least one dose.
With the older population more vulnerable to the deadly impact of the pandemic, the high vaccination rate of those older than 65 corresponds with a lower death count in the state, even as positive cases rise at a fast pace.
There were four deaths reported statewide on Thursday.
However, hospitalizations are also increasing. Thursday, there were 939 people hospitalized across the state with 282 in intensive care units and 108 on ventilators.
A month ago, on July 5, there were 183 people hospitalized, 62 in intensive care units, and 25 on ventilators.
While there have been breakthrough COVID cases involving fully vaccinated people, nearly all cases and deaths are among the unvaccinated population.
The state’s positivity rate is currently 10.8%, the highest it has been since January 24.
-Staff report
Image shows the state incidence rate