Beginning next week, the Christian County Health Department will be able to test up to 70 people a day for COVID-19, and preference will be given to first-responders, healthcare workers and people exhibiting symptoms.
Testing will be conducted from 9 to 11 a.m. Monday through Friday at Tie Breaker Park.
The Christian County Health Department is the first department in the state that will provide testing, Amanda Sweeney, a spokeswoman for the local department, said Friday.
Those seeking a test should enter Tie Breaker Park from the LaFayette Road entrance.
While many counties in Kentucky still don’t have a testing site, the Christian County Health Department’s new program will be the second testing site available locally.
Jennie Stuart Medical Center’s Express Lab has operated a drive-thru test site since late March. Dr. Keith Toms, of Jennie Stuart, said the hospital and its Express Lab combined had administered 1,160 tests through Friday. The drive-thru site tested 22 people Thursday and 19 on Friday.
The health department will publish information about the testing site on its website and Facebook page.
The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the county increased by two to 81, Sweeney said.
As of Friday there were an equal number — 39 — of active and recovered cases.
The number of confirmed cases by age group are:
- Pediatric (0-21): 1
- Young Adult-Middle Age (22-59): 23
- Older Adult (60-84): 15
- Elderly (85+): 0
Three people have died in Christian County from COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus. All three were reported on April 8.
No new cases of COVID-19 were reported Friday at Western State Hospital, where the count remained at 40, Gov. Andy Beshear reported during his daily briefly.
Kentucky had 134 newly confirmed cases Friday, the governor. That brings the state’s total to 2,522.
The state reported eight new deaths. So far, 137 people have died statewide.
COVID-19 tests have been administered to 30,596 people in Kentucky.
Since the start of Kentucky’s outbreak, 1,008 people have been hospitalized for treatment of COVID-19, and 514 have been in an intensive-care unit at some point. As of Friday, 360 people were hospitalized, including 227 in an ICU.
Beth McCraw, vice president for nursing and clinical services at Jennie Stuart Medical Center, said the hospital was treated 11 patients in its COVID-19 unit Friday. Five of the patients have tested positive, and six are awaiting a test result.
The governor said 979 people who had COVID-19 have now recovered.
(Jennifer P. Brown is the editor and founder of Hoptown Chronicle. Reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org.)
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. Brown was a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era, where she worked for 30 years. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board past president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition. She serves on the Hopkinsville History Foundation's board.
