LOUISVILLE, Ky. — COVID-19 numbers following the holiday weekend show the pandemic in Kentucky is worse than it has ever been.
What You Need To Know
- The rolling seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases in Kentucky is roughly six times higher now than Labor Day last year
- Norton Healthcare reported an over 530% increase in the number of patients being treated for COVID-19 there now compared to last Labor Day
- Of the COVID-19 patients currently being treated at Norton Healthcare, over 86% are not vaccinated
- Louisville's chief health strategist encouraged people to get tested if they were at football games, traveled or attended any other large event this past holiday weekend
Spectrum News 1 has been tracking the rolling 7-day average of new COVID-19 cases in the state since March of last year. The numbers used to track this information throughout the pandemic comes from Gov. Andy Beshear's office. On Sept. 5, 2020, which is the closest count to Labor Day 2020, the rolling 7-day average of new cases was 10.97. The latest seven-day rolling average of new cases was 64.77, reported on Aug. 28, 2021. That means the state has roughly six times more COVID-19 cases now than Labor Day last year.
A lot was different this holiday weekend compared to last year. You'll recall in 2020, most big events were still not happening. Vaccines were also not approved at the time.
"Today's top line numbers continue to be near the grimmest times of the pandemic. What's different is, and we keep repeating this because we are not successful yet, we have a way to turn it around now compared to where we were in the early days of the pandemic," said Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer during his weekly COVID update Tuesday.
This past weekend, however, many Kentuckians participated in Labor Day weekend events. Thousands of fans also packed into Kroger Field for the University of Kentucky football team's first game of the season. Louisville's Chief Health Strategist Dr. Sarah Moyer is urging people to get tested to prevent another possible spike following Labor Day.
“Hopefully people who traveled or went to big games or birthday parties are staying home so they don’t transmit to others. I think we are in a better situation with more testing and things like that being available, so I am hopeful we are not going to go back up, but that is a reality of what can happen. Since we are starting at a much higher baseline, it is scary to think about,” said Moyer.
It's not just cases on the rise. Healthcare providers across the Commonwealth are reporting record COVID-19 hospitalizations. Norton Healthcare in Louisville had 36 COVID-19 patients on Labor Day weekend last year. This past weekend, Noton Healthcare had 227 COVID-19 patients. That's more than a 530% increase.
The hospital reprted the number of COVID-19 patients there has since increased to 233. Of those patients, Norton Healthcare said 231 are vaccinated while 202 are not vaccinated.