Lawrence one of four COVID-19 red counties

By TONY FYFFE

BSN Editor

LOUISA – Lawrence was one of four counties in the red on the latest Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s COVID-19 risk map.

Red is an indication of a high level of coronavirus transmission, according to the CDC.

“Please consider masking in crowded indoor areas,” the Lawrence County Health Department said in a Facebook post Thursday after the new map was released.

The three other counties that were red on Thursday’s map were Boyd, Greenup and McCracken.

COVID-19 guidance in red counties include staying up to date with vaccinations; staying home when sick; following isolation and quarantine guidance, including getting tested if exposed or have symptoms of COVID-19; limiting indoor in-person gathering and reducing the size of gatherings; encouraging physical distancing; considering avoiding non-essential indoor public activities; and talking to healthcare providers about preventative treatments.

Martin and 20 other counties were yellow on the COVID-19 community level map Thursday, which indicates that citizens there who are immunocompromised, or at high risk for severe illness from the virus, should talk to healthcare providers about whether they need to wear a mask or take other precautions.

Other Eastern Kentucky yellow counties were Pike, Carter, Elliott, Morgan and Rowan.

Johnson and Floyd counties were green on Thursday’s map, which mean they have a low COVID-19 level.

Gov. Andy Beshear said in his Thursday Team Kentucky update that the state was experiencing

a slight escalation of cases, with 8,127 cases announced May 16-22, and the positivity rate, which reached 10.52 percent the week of May 22. But nationally, the escalation of cases is appearing to slow down. Hospitalizations are increasing, but they are not rising proportionately to rising cases, which the governor said is good news.

“There is more COVID going around right now. I think we all see it and we all know people who are getting it. It is not making people as sick, and that is a function of a couple of things,” Beshear said. “It doesn’t appear that this variant is as aggressive as the delta variant, and we have a whole lot of people who have gotten vaccinated, or boosted or who have had COVID, which boosts immune response.”