Officials think peak is near for Omicron variant in Ky.

Emily Adams-Bentley, The Sentinel Echo, London, Ky.
·3 min read

Jan. 26—FRANKFORT, Ky. — Health officials suspect Kentucky could reach its peak with the Omicron variant in the next week, as COVID-19 cases continue to climb throughout the state.

During Monday's COVID update, Gov. Andy Beshear reported that his son, Will, had tested positive for COVID-19, though the rest of the governor's family have all tested negative so far.

On Monday, State Public Health Commissioner Dr. Steven Stack updated new cases and deaths from this past weekend:

-Saturday: 13,797 new cases, 29 new deaths, 32.65% positivity rate

-Sunday: 11,648 new cases, 25 new deaths, 33.1% positivity rate

-Monday: 3,912 new cases, 22 new deaths, 33.06% positivity rate

For the Tri-County, the Whitley County Health Department reported 171 new cases reported since Friday with 445 active cases while the Laurel County Health Department reported 945 new cases for the week of Jan. 15 through Jan. 21. For Jan. 21 through Jan. 22, the Knox County Health Department reported 134 new cases with 498 active cases.

Whitley County reported a 256.8 incidence rate on Monday while Knox County was at 253.2 and Laurel County was at 103.1, according to the KDPH. Whitley and Knox counties were both higher than the state's overall incidence rate of 216.13. The incidence rate is the average daily COVID case number per 100,000 population based on the previous seven days.

On Monday, Dr. Stack said that this week, the state would likely hit its peak in cases, which could last a week or two, according to trends in other states.

"Our vaccination rates are lower in Kentucky than in all three of these other places, so we could have a wider spike here than the other places, but that means, hopefully in the next two weeks, we'll start seeing the backside of this escalation," he said.

Dr. Stack reported that while the state is getting closer and closer to its previous peak in hospitalizations, there was some good news.

"Here's the better news, if there is better news, that fewer people go into the intensive care unit relative to the Delta variant and prior variants," he said. "Even though we're close to our all-time high peak in COVID hospitalizations, there are probably in regular medical and surgical beds and not in intensive care units, so we are not anywhere near our peak for ICU utilization that we were last fall."

Dr. Stack also noted that ventilator usage is also much lower than it was with the Delta variant and original COVID virus.

"This virus in a lot of ways behaves like a different virus," he said. "It does not appear to hit the lungs as hard as the prior versions did, so we don't appear to run out of any dangers of running out of ventilators, the problem though is...we're running out of healthcare workers."

Dr. Stack said that communities can help their local healthcare systems by not going to the emergency room for COVID testing and only going to the emergency room if it is a true emergency.

"If you feel sick enough to need medical advice, call your doctor and if you think you have an emergency, by all means, then go to an emergency department and they'll do the best they can to take care of you," he said, adding that wearing a mask, getting vaccinated and boosted, and using good hygiene can help protect yourself and others from getting and spreading the virus.

There will be a free COVID-19 vaccination clinic at the Corbin Center located at 222 Corbin Center Drive on Saturday, Jan. 29 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Rapid tests will also be available during the clinic. To register, visit www.kyvax.wildhealth.com.