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SUN STAFF REPORT

Clark County’s COVID-19 incidence rate edged back up this week after falling to 16.15 per 100,000 population last Friday.

On Monday it was 17.1, on Tuesday, 20.48, on Wednesday, it dropped back to 19.69, according to the local Health Department’s daily reports.

The county’s highest incidence rate was 90.2 per 100,000 on Jan. 28, which is well into the critical category or “red zone.”

For more than a week, Clark County has been in the “orange zone” of 10-25 cases per 100,000 population. (Clark’s population is estimated at just over 36,000.)

Wednesday there were 184 active coronavirus cases including nine new ones that day.

There have been 2,397 cases so far, with 2,191 recoveries. Twenty-two people in the county have died of the disease.

When the state issued the color-coded metrics last year, counties in the orange category were expected to take additional mitigation steps and prepare for possible remote learning as determined by school administrators in consultation with local public health officials.

This year, however, counties in the orange and red zones have been having in-school instruction, but following safety guidelines.

Clark County is in hybrid learning with students going to class two days a week and doing distance learning three days. Superintendent Paul Christy announced that full in-person instruction would resume March 15. Teachers and other school employees are scheduled to get their second round of vaccinations Saturday.

On Wednesday, Gov. Andy Beshear announced the state’s positivity rate has declined to 5.9%, the lowest since Oct. 27.

“We are getting these vaccines out faster than the federal government can provide them, so there’s a lot of hope moving into the future,” said Gov. Beshear. “We are going to defeat this virus this year, but until then, we’ve got to protect each other.”

As of 4 p.m. Feb. 24, Beshear reported the following COVID-19 numbers:

New cases Wednesday: 1,306

New deaths Wednesday: 51

Positivity rate: 5.9%

Total deaths: 4,527

Currently hospitalized: 883

Currently in ICU: 228

Currently on ventilator: 112

To view the full daily report, incidence rate map, information on testing locations, vaccines, contact tracing, school reports and guidance, guidance for health care providers and the White House Coronavirus Task Force reports for Kentucky and more, visit kycovid19.ky.gov.