LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — The Lexington-Fayette County Health Department reports the 21 highest daily totals of COVID-19 happened in the month of July.
Now as we head into the month of August, the Health Department is warning people to be careful in order to reverse this dangerous trend.
In July, Lexington reported 1,702 new COVID-19 cases which brought the city total number to 3,255 confirmed cases, more than doubling the number.
Kevin Hall, the Communications Director for Lexington-Fayette County Health Department says this trend may be continuing in August.
"Unfortunately, the first few days of August look like this trend is continuing. It isn’t official. We won’t know until tomorrow (Monday) morning what we are seeing for the weekend, but it’s looking to be 150 (cases) if not more by the time the weekend is finished," said Hall.
In August, college students return to town and some schools will resume in-person classes. Hall says with more places reopening, it's now extra important to stay vigilant by wearing your mask and continuing to social distance.
Hall says these precautions are the best way to reduce case numbers and says people should know it is likely the steady increase in numbers isn't because of more testing being available but because people are not complying with the mandates or traveling to COVID-19 hot spots.
"One thing that comes up often is, 'are the number of cases coming from increased testing?' And obviously the more you test, the more positives we are going to have. But that’s great. We want to know who's positive because there are too many people out there. About a quarter of people we are seeing aren’t showing symptoms at the time they talk to us when they find out they are a case. But with so many people not showing symptoms, that's the importance of testing," said Hall.
He says the city will continue to launch more testing sites to keep up with the demand.
