The increase of new COVID-19 cases in Kentucky involving student-aged children dropped in the month following the state’s recommendation that schools close to in-person learning until January.
Governor Andy Beshear announced on Nov. 18 that he was recommending that schools offer virtual learning to its students until January as one of several ways to combat the climb of the coronavirus. He also closed restaurants and bars to in-person dining for two weeks.
In the month following his recommendation which included Friday’s numbers, the number of COVID-19 cases in kids under 10 increased 54-percent. The cases increased 79-percent from mid-October to mid-November.
COVID cases in the 10-19 age group statewide also increased 79-percent in the month before Thanksgiving but only 54-percent since. The state numbers buck the local trend that has seen the number of COVID–19 cases in school-age kids increase since schools switched to virtual learning. Trigg and Christian counties have both seen more cases of the virus since schools switched to virtual learning last month.
Cases of COVID-19 overall increased 62-percent from mid-October to mid-November and 56-percent in the past four weeks.
The news comes as Kentucky reported 3,179 new cases of virus Friday. The state’s positivity rate remained at 8.5-percent.
The number of people hospitalized dropped by over 100 from Thursday to 1,712. The ICU census of 410 is the lowest in 11 days.
The state also reported 28 deaths Friday, although the state’s mortality numbers are usually one to two weeks behind information released by local health departments.
