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STANFORD – While the number of new positive cases of COVID-19 decreased for some time, Lincoln County Health Department Director Diane Miller said this pandemic has never been over – and this week, the county is reporting an increase.

Lincoln County was averaging about 10 new positive cases of COVID-19 a day but that has increased recently, Miller said.

As of Friday last week, Lincoln County was once again considered a “red zone” on the statewide incidence rate map.

“That means that the virus is being transmitted easily,” Miller said, “which is causing the increase in our cases.”

The state map reported an incidence rate of 28.5 for Lincoln County as of Friday, July 30.

According to the Kentucky Public Health Department, “The 7-Day incidence is calculated by taking the total number of unique cases in each county over the past 7 days, divided by 7 to get a daily average, divided by the U.S. census bureau county population, and multiplied by 100,000 to get the incidence per 100,000 people. The cases counted each day are based on the date an investigation was opened in NEDSS (i.e., National Electronic Disease Surveillance System). Duplicate cases are removed before the calculation, so each positive case is only included once.”

Due to the increase, the Lincoln County Health Department is once again recommending the use of masks and the practice of social-distancing.

“At this point in time, I’m recommending that residents of Lincoln County, whether you’re vaccinated or unvaccinated, wear your mask,” Miller said.

The Lincoln County Health Department is still administering vaccinations to anyone interested.

“If individuals are interested please call our number,” Miller said. “I am doing all three vaccines: Pfizer, Moderna and J&J. When you register, let me know which vaccine you are interested in.”

According to data provided by the CDC and the state Department for Public Health, as of July 30, 30.7 percent of Lincoln County residents have been fully vaccinated.

The percentage of adults in Lincoln County who have been fully vaccinated was reportedly 39.1 percent and the percentage of those over the age of 12 who have been fully vaccinated was 36.4 percent.

About 63.7 percent of Lincoln Countians over the age of 65 have been fully vaccinated, according to the data.

“Like we continue to do, we’ve got to put those control measures back in place. Do the social distancing. Make sure you’re doing proper hand-washing techniques and if you’re having any symptoms at all, please isolate yourself, quarantine yourself. Stay away from that high-risk population – those that are immunocompromised or those that have chronic health conditions,” Miller said. “We’ve got to do what we can do to protect our loved ones and those around us.

Miller said the virus is still out there.

“The pandemic never went away, even though things were relaxed. We were always still in the pandemic,” she said. “I can’t stress enough for individuals to get vaccinated because the cases we are seeing are mostly in unvaccinated individuals and the hospitalizations have been those unvaccinated individuals.”

Miller said she encourages individuals to educate themselves on the vaccine.

“As school opens up within the next couple of weeks or so, parents need to think about their children being vaccinated before going back to school,” she said. “If they do that, then they can look at being able to continue with extra-curricular activities, sports and the whole nine yards.”

SO YOU KNOW
The Lincoln County Health Department can be reached at 606-365-3106.