New COVID-19 cases plateauing at a lower rate

Christie Netherton, Messenger-Inquirer, Owensboro, Ky.
·2 min read

Oct. 23—New COVID-19 cases in the region have plateaued at a lower rate than in the past several weeks with incidence rates seeing a continuous drop.

New COVID-19 cases reported by the Green River District Health Department Friday were 229 for the seven-county region and 120 for Daviess County between Oct. 19-21. That was not too far off from what was reported Tuesday, with a total of 241 for the region and 123 for Daviess County between Oct. 15-18.

Incidence rates, however, are continuously decreasing with four of the seven counties below a critical rate of spread, including Hancock, Henderson, Union and Webster counties.

In Kentucky, a county is considered at a critical rate of spread with an average of 25 new cases or more a day per a population of 100,000.

GRDHD Pubic Health Director Clay Horton said, however, that incidence rate may not always be incredibly telling of the rate of spread for counties with smaller populations since the rate is based on a population of 100,000.

"I'm always a little cautious when looking at the incidence rate for individual counties, especially when they have relatively small populations," he said. "Just a few cases can make a big swing in the incidence rate when the population is small."

The incidence rate for Daviess County was reported Friday as 28.99 new cases per day for a 100,000 population.

Overall, the region as a whole is heading in the right direction, Horton said, with an average of 67.3 new cases per day, down from the 74.6 reported Tuesday.

"With the district as a whole, the trends continue to move in the right direction. I'm hopeful that we will continue to watch these rates decline over the next few weeks," he said.

Additionally, Owensboro Health reported a total number of 47 patients with COVID-19 Thursday evening being housed within its three facilities in Owensboro, Greenville and Leitchfield.

Thirty of those cases were being housed at OH regional Hospital, 13 in critical care and eight intubated and 16 of those patients were in critical care.

Hospitalizations related to the virus have continuously declined in the past two weeks along with county incidence rates.

Of those hospitalized cases, the majority remain to be unvaccinated individuals with 11 out of the total 47 patients being vaccinated.

OH and GRDHD continue to recommend vaccination, masking and social distancing to combat the spread of COVID-19.

To schedule a vaccine appointment with OH, visit OwensboroHealth.org/Vaccine.

Christie Netherton, cnetherton@messenger-inquirer.com, 270-691-7360