Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear announced Tuesday the Commonwealth surpassed one million COVID-19 cases since the beginning of the outbreak.
Beshear confirmed 1,014,703 cases of the virus since the start of the pandemic.
The Governor also announce Kentucky’s highest report of new cases with 14,896 new infection discovered through laboratory testing. Moreover, Tuesday marked the highest test positivity rate with a 30.25% rate.
“The increase in cases is severe, by far more than any other surge we’ve had,” said Governor Beshear. “But the good news is, 75% of Kentuckians 18 and up have been vaccinated. I think that’s a pretty big deal. Three quarters of everyone in Kentucky who can make their own health care decisions have decided to get vaccinated. That is an overwhelming majority. Hopefully this encourages even more people to get that shot of hope.”
Kentucky also experienced a new record high week for infections for the week ending Sunday, January 16. The state reported 72,165 new infections last week and the total is near twenty thousand cases more than the second highest record reported the week before.
Kentucky reported 52,603 new cases of the virus for the week January third through the ninth.
Kentucky’s current hospitalizations amount to 2,200 patients with 431 of patients requiring Intensive care treatment and 244 patients requiring ventilators to breathe.