Kentucky’s COVID-19 positivity rate declined for five consecutive days as of Jan. 28, the longest streak of decline since the start of the Omicron surge.
The positivity rate was recorded as 30.5% on Jan. 28, down from the record high of 33.1% on Jan. 23.
The drop seems to support Kentucky Health Commissioner Steven Stack’s statements from Gov. Andy Beshear’s Jan. 24 COVID-19 update. Stack expressed his belief that the Omicron surge would soon fade, citing trends in Omicron surges for New York, Rhode Island and the United Kingdom. “Over the next week [or] two weeks, we should start seeing the backside of this escalation,” Stack said during Gov. Andy Beshear’s bi-weekly COVID-19 update. “If that’s the case, that’s really good news.”
Despite the drop, Kentucky still reported 72,270 cases between Jan. 23 and Jan. 28. On Jan. 27, Gov. Beshear announced that hospitalizations had reached a peak not seen since the Delta surge. “Hospitalizations are near a record high,” Beshear said. “Yes, Omicron is less deadly, but a heck of a lot more people have it, meaning there are a significant number of people who are getting really sick.”
The extra patient load has put a strain on Kentucky’s hospitals. On Jan. 25, Baptist Health Richmond suspended all elective procedures, with Chief Medical Officer Erica Gregonis citing “an increase in patient volumes attributed to the current COVID-19 surge.” Meanwhile, Baptist Health Lexington, UK Healthcare and CHI Saint Joseph Health administrators said occupancy had reached recorded delta variant peaks.
The case surge is worsened by widespread staff shortages, as working health care professionals test positive amid existing staff shortages.
“All the health care systems are strained to the max,” he said. “Everyone is stretched to their limit. When we’re taking care of this many COVID patients, it means we can’t take care of other patients as well as we’d like to.”
According to the daily COVID-19 reports recorded by the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, Kentucky surpassed one million cases on Jan. 17.