Gov. Andy Beshear on Saturday urged rigorous masking in schools and workplace settings after testing confirmed the fast-spreading COVID-19 omicron variant in multiple Kentucky counties. Local health officials are also urging caution as cases have risen in recent weeks.
“The omicron variant of COVID-19 is probably one of the most transmissible or contagious infections we’ve had in the last century at least,” said Dr. Steven Stack, commission of the Kentucky Department of Public Health. “To put this into perspective, one person who gets influenza may infect one to two people. The delta variant really escalated COVID’s transmissibility, and one person with the delta variant might infect up to five other people under the right situations. Omicron now, it may be that one person with omicron may infect up to 18 or 20 other people.”
So far there have been no reported cases of the omicron variant in Daviess County, but it’s expected to arrive at some point.
“Our incidence rates are already very high,” said Clay Horton, Green River District Health Department. “We expect that omicron will drive them even higher. The important thing for people to know is first if you have not yet gotten vaccinated for COVID-19, you should not wait any longer. Vaccines are easy to find in our community”
Horton said those already vaccinated should get a booster shot as soon as they are eligible. He also still encourages wearing masks in certain places.
“Masks are an effective way to reduce the spread of COVID-19,” Horton said. “If you are in a crowd or indoor public space, you should wear a mask. Workplaces where employees are close to each other and schools should require masks. Most importantly if you are not feeling well, stay home and don’t infect other people.”
Beshear said in a release that “any school that is not doing mandatory masking, any business that is not having their folks wear masks could see entire schools, entire shifts get infected very, very quickly. Folks I’m telling you: If we don’t make the decision to put back on that mask in these situations, it’s going disrupt everything we’ve worked so hard to get back up and going.”
The Governor said Gravity Diagnostics reported positive omicron tests Friday to the Kentucky Department for Public Health (KDPH). The positive tests were from patients in Kenton, Campbell and Fayette counties.
In addition, wastewater testing by the University of Louisville and the Louisville Metro Department of Public Health & Wellness detected the presence of the omicron variant in Jefferson County.
According to Beshear’s release, key facts about the omicron variant are:
- It is much more transmissible than other variants.
- It appears to take a much smaller amount of omicron to produce spread.
- So far, omicron appears to cause mostly mild disease. South Africa and the United Kingdom, where there already is significant spread, have not reported severe rises in hospitalizations. However, it is too soon to tell how Kentucky will fare.
- Recent data suggests monoclonal antibody treatments may not be as effective a treatment against the omicron variant.
In a Thursday update on Facebook, Owensboro Health officials wrote that COVID-19 hospitalizations have been steadily rising for the last month.
According to that update, there were 48 COVID-19 hospitalizations at Owensboro Health Regional Hospital; 35 were unvaccinated. Ten of those patients were in critical care, and eight of them were unvaccinated. Of the eight who were intubated, six were unvaccinated.
In their Friday update, the Health Department reported 215 new confirmed COVID-19 infections in Daviess County, all of which were reported between Tuesday and Thursday. The 7-day average on Friday was 56.15 new cases per day for Daviess County.
According to the GRDHD, 56.38% of Daviess Countians have been vaccinated.
