First Vaccine arrives in County as nursing home cases rise
Voice Staff Report
editor@tmcvoice.com
First responders and medical personnel were the first people in McCreary County to receive the Coronavirus vaccine from the McCreary Health Department. The Lake Cumberland District Health Department issued a statement that the ten county area and the State were in phase 1-A of vaccine distribution and was to be given to Long Term Care facility residents and health care personnel. LCDHD also said the vaccine was limited in quantity and not available at this time.
Kentucky’s Covid-19 Long Term Facility Report for January 2021 is reporting Signature Health Care in Pine Knot, as of January 5th, has 19 active cases among their residents and 7 cases in their staff. For the year 2020, Signature Health Care was reported to have had 23 cases and 3 deaths among their residents and their staff had 23 positive cases. Walgreens has a contract to administer the vaccine to long term care residents and staff which should begin this week.
The State of Kentucky received 151,800 doses of the vaccine and reported 55,511 doses had been administered. As more vaccine becomes available, LCDHD is asking the public to monitor their website www.lcdhd.org and Facebook page for information about future vaccinations when the vaccine becomes readily available. The Lake Cumberland District Health Department is hoping to move into phase 1-B soon when our communities receive vaccine for people age 70 and older and school personnel. The vaccine will be administered in phases according to the CDC guidelines.
McCreary County’s Covid-19 deaths continue to rise and was reported on Tuesday evening at 11 deaths. Hospitalizations are increasing with 15 in the hospital and 93 active cases. The County has experienced a total of 1,217 reported Covid-19 cases since the pandemic started. Some of those cases are in the prison population. On December 30, 2020 it was reported there was 46 active cases in USP McCreary, as of January 5th the prison was reporting only 3 or 4 active cases.
