The health department reported 15 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, pushing the total number of local cases confirmed since the pandemic began to 995.
The number of cases classified as active by the health department was 248. The number classified as recovered was 733. Fourteen Christian County deaths have been attributed to the virus since the pandemic began in mid-March.
The county’s seven-day average of new cases grew to 13 on Wednesday — 27.9% higher than two weeks ago.
Jennie Stuart Medical Center had 12 confirmed coronavirus patients and one patient whose test was pending, health department spokeswoman Amanda Sweeney said Wednesday in a news release.
See more local coronavirus data here.
Kentucky passed the solemn milestone of more than 1,000 deaths, with 16 newly reported deaths.
“Tonight and tomorrow’s briefings are going to look a little different, because we’ve hit a tough and unfortunate milestone in Kentucky,” Gov. Andy Beshear said during his briefing Wednesday. “We have the painful news that we have now lost over 1,000 Kentuckians — our mothers and fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers, sisters, brothers, neighbors — to COVID-19.
“Compared with most other states, that number of casualties is fairly low, and that’s a testament to the people of Kentucky and the actions that they’ve taken, but it’s hard to be proud and excited about this news.”
To honor the Kentuckians who have died from COVID-19, the Kentucky State Police honor guard will hold a wreath-laying ceremony at 10 a.m. Thursday in the Capitol rotunda. The governor also has ordered all flags on state buildings to fly at half-staff next week.
As of Wednesday afternoon, there were at least 53,977 coronavirus cases in Kentucky, 667 of which were newly reported Wednesday, Beshear announced. Eighty-eight of the newly reported cases were from children ages 18 and younger, of which 16 were children ages 5 and under. The youngest was only 2 months old.
(Julia Hunter is the webmaster for Hoptown Chronicle. Reach her at Julia_Hunter622@hotmail.com.)
Julia Hunter is the engagement editor for Hoptown Chronicle. Reach her at julia@hoptownchronicle.org.
