The Christian County Health Department announced 22 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, pushing the incidence rate to an all-time high of 30.8.
The rate is the seven-day average of daily new cases adjusted for a population of 100,000 people so incidence can be compared across geographies. It’s also the metric steering state guidance regarding whether schools should allow in-person instruction.
Under new guidance issued Monday by the state Department of Education and the Department of Public Health, counties with an incidence rate higher than 25 are expected to suspend in-person instruction until the community’s incidence levels go down to yellow. The Kentucky High School Athletic Association also recommends suspending all school-related athletic and extracurricular activities once a community reaches the “critical” level of community spread.
Christian County Public Schools, which returned to classes 20 days ahead of the governor’s recommendation, continue to hold in-person instruction. And while some sports events were suspended after students tested positive for COVID-19, a Hopkinsville High School-Caldwell County High School football game remains set for 7 p.m. Saturday at the Stadium of Champions.
According to the Kentucky Department of Public Health’s COVID-19 Incidence Rate map, which often lags several days behind local data as is the case with its reporting of Christian County numbers, Caldwell County’s incidence rate was 35.9 on Friday. More up-to-date local figures were not immediately available for Caldwell.
At a school board meeting Thursday night, CCPS Superintendent Chris Bentzel relied on outdated information reported by the state, which officials have made clear is often days behind. District Assessment Coordinator Zach Hibbs told the school board the rate was 19.3, which was the incidence rate reported by the state on Wednesday. The most recent figures from the health department show the incidence rate on Thursday was 28.
On Friday, the county reported 187 active cases of the novel coronavirus, up from 171 on Thursday. Since the pandemic began in mid-March, the health department has confirmed 1,167 total cases. Eighteen local deaths have been attributed to COVID-19, including a 49-year-old woman earlier this week.
Friday’s seven-day average, which is not adjusted for population, was 21.7.
Health department urges honesty with contact tracers, discusses reinfection
In a video posted Friday afternoon, Christian County Health Department spokeswoman Amanda Sweeney urged those who have tested positive for COVID-19 to be honest with contact tracers when asked to disclose their direct contacts.
“A lot of people we’ve seen in the community lately are not disclosing all of that information,” Sweeney said. “Or if they know someone is a direct contact but maybe they have an event they want to go to or they know that they have a church activity coming up or a sports activity coming up, they don’t tell us about the direct contact.
“When we do our investigations, our epidemiology investigations, and do the contact tracing, our investigation is only as good as the information you give us within the community. So if you leave some of those contacts out and those contacts go out into the community and they’ve contracted it from you, they’re spreading it to large groups of people and now we’re seeing large clusters in the community that are coming up because of that.”
Sweeney also addressed questions regarding reinfection, noting that if it has been 90 days since an individual contracted COVID-19 for the first time, they are susceptible to reinfection.
“Reinfection is possible,” she said. “We are starting to see that in the community.”
Christian Health Center reports 13 new cases
Christian Health Center, a nursing home and rehabilitation center on Faulkner Drive that experienced an outbreak of cases earlier this month and a death earlier this week, reported 16 new coronavirus cases on Friday, according to the Kentucky Department of Public Health’s report on long-term care and other congregate facilities.
The facility has 92 residents and close to 200 staff members. As of Friday, there were 38 active patient cases and 14 active staff cases. Five staff members have been classified as recovered.
- RELATED: Local nursing home’s coronavirus outbreak has not yet resulted in any seriously ill patients
Editor’s Note: Hoptown Chronicle is calculating the incidence rate using the most recent numbers provided by the Christian County Health Department in an effort to provide the community with the most up-to-date and relevant data.
(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.
