Madison County seeing rise in COVID-19 cases

MADISON COUNTY, Ky. (WKYT) - COVID-19 cases are on the rise all across the state.

Health leaders say a large part of the rise is due to the delta variant spreading among unvaccinated Kentuckians.

Madison County recently moved from yellow to orange on the state’s COVID-19 map.

In its most recent update, the Madison County Health Department says roughly 41% of its population is fully vaccinated. Cases are rising as we’re seeing in pockets across the state and health leaders say that the two are probably connected.

“You know the Governor and Dr. Stack have been giving their reports where we’ve seen stair steps and then we’ve had a big increase statewide,” said Kelley McBride, Madison County Health Department. “So, I think what we’re experiencing here in Madison County is in line with what the rest of the state is experiencing.”

The health department is reporting a 13% incidence rate for new cases. That number is up about 4% in the last weeks.

According to the Kentucky COVID-19 Map, Madison County is now back in the orange level.

That doesn’t mean that drastic steps need to be taken at this point, but Richmond Mayor Robert Blythe says that it is something concerning and it’s something that he and other leaders will be watching.

“We’ve done that and don’t want to go back to it, but I’m afraid, I’m afraid that, should there be significant rise in cases, I think we will continue to monitor and I think we will probably end up asking folks, asking folks, if not even mandating, asking folks to go back to at least wearing the mask when they’re inside,” Blythe said.

Mayor Blythe did say that, right now, there are no plans to ask or require masking.

However, officials are encouraging everyone to go ahead and get a vaccine shot and take some commonsense measures to help avoid spreading the virus any further.

Copyright 2021 WKYT. All rights reserved.