The Christian County Health Department gave an update on the COVID-19 pandemic locally Wednesday, and says that Christian County is not in a good place when it comes to cases.
Amanda Sweeney with the department says cases continue to climb locally with 21 new cases from Tuesday to Wednesday—and the positivity rate is 12.5 percent based on their testing site—and Christian County is now listed as one of the worst in the state for coronavirus spread.
Between the health department and Jennie Stuart Health, 20,899 COVID-19 tests have been administered locally, not counting other healthcare providers. Jennie Stuart currently has 14 COVID positive patients, but over the weekend had 24, the highest so far during the pandemic. Beth McCraw says they weren’t quite at capacity, but she urges people to maintain those health guidelines to help keep their capacity open for those who need treatment.
Sweeney says the incidence rate in the county is at 29, which means things are still in the ‘red’ or ‘critical’ zone—she says there could be several factors in why cases keep climbing, including improper wearing of face masks and social gatherings that don’t abide by social distancing measures.
Public Health Director Kayla Bebout says Western State Hospital has worked hard to get the outbreak that occurred earlier in the pandemic under control, and now only have a few cases still being monitored.