62 positive COVID-19 cases in LCDHD area

The number of positive cases of the novel Coronoavirus continues to grow as Kentuckians try to slow the spread of the disease.

According to the Lake Cumberland District Health Department, there have been a total of 62 positive cases confirmed or presumed confirmed in the 10-county district area and two deaths from the disease. The four Russell County cases are self-isolated.

“Regardless of the confirmed case count for any Lake Cumberland County, we believe COVID-19 to be widespread,” the department said.

Yesterday, LCDHD Executive Director Shawn Crabtree and Judge Executive Gary D. Robertson held a press conference to announce that the newest case in our county is an employee of Fair Oaks Health System, a long-term care facilitiy.

According to a statement from Fair Oaks read by Crabtree, “this staff member last worked directly with residents on March 23 and has since been quarantined at home. The staff member was originally diagnosed with pneumonia by our physician but was only tested a few days ago for COVID-19 when her condition did not improve. We were provided with confirmation of a positive result this morning. Again, this employee has not been in the center for over two weeks.”

The statement goes on to say that the nursing home notified the Department of Health and is following all government recommendations and regulations. At this time, no residents or other staff have presented with any syptoms of COVID-19 and there have been no other positive cases. The nursing home says they are continuing to monitor the health of all residents and staff and that their well-being is the top priority.

Crabtree stated that since it has been 15 days since the employee worked at the nursing home, if other people were exposed and caught the disease, they should be showing symptoms by now and there is an increased amount of monitoring of the paitents and staff to make sure they are not showing any symptoms. Crabtree also stated that Fair Oaks has been fully cooperative with the health department and he has spoken with the local facitiliy and the corporate office about their practices and what to do if anyone does test positive.

To date, there have been two deaths from reported by the LCDHD. One death was in Adair County and one was in Pulaski County. The Adair County death was a resident of Summit Manor nursing home and a second paitent there has tested positive for COVID-19.

The District Health Department has met with all personal care homes in the area, along with jails, to provide prevention plans, guidance, and recommendations for active cases and future first case. They have also provided local businesses in the district with packets containing infomration on COVID-19.

As always, the department asks people to follow all health and safety recommendations concerning the COVID-19 pandemic.