More than 900 new cases reported

By TONY FYFFE

BSN Editor

More than 900 new COVID-19 cases were reported during the last week in Lawrence, Johnson, Floyd and Martin counties, with one county having four coronavirus-related deaths.

A total of 945 new cases were reported in the four counties from Tuesday, Sept. 7, through Monday, Sept. 13, including 99 in Lawrence, 275 in Johnson, 396 in Floyd and 175 in Martin.

Johnson County reported four additional COVID-19-related deaths, including one each on Sept. 8, Sept. 9, Sept. 11 and Sept. 13. The additional deaths bring Johnson County’s total to 49.

“Please continue to turn on your green lights and remember these families in your thoughts and prayers,” the Johnson County Health Department said in announcing the Sept. 9 death. “Our hearts go out to every family that has lost a loved one to this terrible virus.”

Since the pandemic began in March 2020, the total number of coronavirus-related deaths include 35 in Lawrence County and 27 in Martin County. The Floyd County Health Department does not include a running total of deaths in its daily COVID-19 updates.

A total of 13,179 COVID-19 cases have been reported in the four counties since March 2020, including 2,106 in Lawrence, 3,539 in Johnson, 5,883 in Floyd and 1,651 in Martin.

All four counties remain in the red zone on Kentucky’s COVID-19 incidence-rate map with rates of 68.1 in Lawrence, 112.7 in Johnson, 129.3 in Floyd and 122.5 in Martin.

Due to the high number of coronavirus cases, the Lawrence County, Johnson County, Paintsville Independent, Floyd County and Martin County school districts require all students, staff and visitors to wear masks while inside their buildings.