LEXINGTON, Ky. — Last week Fayette County saw their highest number of COVID-19 cases in a single day in the county, and the Health Department says this is only the beginning, and expects the cases to continue to climb. 

Kevin Hall with the Lexington Fayette County Health Department says the pandemic is nowhere close to coming to an end.

“We knew they would go up, but this is exceeding what we were even anticipating,” Hall said. 

Last Tuesday, Fayette County reported what they thought was the highest number of positive cases in a single day with 494. To their surprise, Hall says that number was quickly surpassed on Wednesday with 550.

“There are a lot of reasons right now that we're seeing an increase. One, more people are getting tested because they're around people who have tested positive, they're showing symptoms. Omicron has symptoms that are so similar to not only the flu, but also the common cold. So people who have sore throats they're coughing or sneezing. They're getting tested to rule that out so the more people who get tested, obviously, you will see an increase of cases with something that is easily spread as the omicron variant,” Hall said. 

Now almost two years later, Hall says officials are tired of dealing with COVID-19. Asking for people who are unvaccinated to get the vaccine to help slow down these positive cases, especially with the omicron variant. 

“People need to realize this spreads so much easier than the delta variant or the original variant of COVID-19,” Hall said. 

Hall says the Health Department has given over 13,000 vaccines and continues to encourage the public to do their part in slowing down the spread.