Hancock COVID numbers, worst in state
Hancock County had the highest COVID-19 incidence rate in the state on Monday and Tuesday of this week, marking the first time that the county has taken the unwanted lead position after hovering around the top 10 for weeks.
On Monday, January 25, Hancock County moved to the number one spot with a incidence rate of 95.0, which is calculated as the number of daily new cases per 100,000 population, based on the previous seven days. The county was fourth on January 24 with a rate of 90.1.
On Tuesday the county’s number climbed and it remained at number one with a rate of 103.2 per 100,000. Each day Hart County was second, with 93.1 on Monday and 102.1 Tuesday. Daviess County was fourth on Tuesday with a rate of 92.5.
The state average was 58.93 on Monday and 60.25 on Tuesday. Anything above 25 per 100,000 turns a county red on the state’s incidence map.
Why Hancock County has the highest incidence rate in the state is a mystery to the county’s EMA director Kyle Veach.
“I don’t know what would cause Hancock County to be higher than the others,” he said. “I mean the schools are out of session, people are social distancing, they’re wearing their masks, the vaccines are starting to come through.”
The counties connected to Hancock don’t show any regional effect, with Daviess not far behind Hancock on Tuesday with 92.5, but Ohio County had just 60.1 and Breckinridge County was at 57.2 per 100,000.
Whereas in the fall the county’s numbers were arguably artificially high after a virus outbreak at Heartland Villa, a nursing home in Lewisport, there doesn’t appear to be any concentrated area or group where the numbers are higher.
“It’s just been a steady increase,” said Veach. “The first part of the week we may have an increase just because of the delay in getting test results over the weekend.”
Although the county does have the highest incidence rate in the state this week, the overall rate has decreased in the state.
On January 14, for instance, the county was eighth worst in the state but the incidence rate was 116.3.
Those numbers should decrease as more and more people get the vaccine, which is already underway.
“You’re seeing more and more people vaccinated and we expect that to increase in the coming weeks and months to where we’ll be on pace for everyone who wants the vaccine to have it available to them,” he said.
First responders got their first shot weeks ago and they’re scheduled to get their second shots on Friday, January 29, and many teachers and school personnel have gotten their first shots.
While the first responders will be presumably protected from the virus it won’t change much for them on a practical, day-to-day basis.
“They still will continue in the same roles and following the same guidelines as everyone else,” he said. “They say even though you have the vaccine you can still carry it home to people.”
The Green River District Health Department in Owensboro didn’t respond to an email request for information for this story.
By Dave Taylor
dave.hancockclarion
@gmail.com
