The COVID-19 “Omicron” variant has officially arrived in Kentucky.
Following updated reports from this week, Governor Andy Beshear announced Saturday that Gravity Diagnostics discovered positive tests in Kenton, Campbell and Fayette counties — and returned such data to the Kentucky Department for Public Health.
Wastewater testing recently completed by the University of Louisville and the Louisville Metro Department of Public Health & Wellness also detected the “Omicron” variant is in Jefferson County.
Kentucky Health Commissioner Dr. Steven Stack said initial indications show that “Omicron” is even more transmissible than the “Delta” variant of COVID-19 — perhaps four times as much.
However, Stack noted “Omicron” has been relatively mild in both South Africa and the United Kingdom, where it’s spread significantly in the last month. Severe hospitalizations have not been reported in conjunction with increased positivity rates, but monoclonal antibody treatments for the “Omicron” variant haven’t been as effective.
As of Saturday, testing positivity in Kentucky stood at 8.94%, with local counties Trigg, Marshall, Graves, Hopkins, McCracken, Livingston, Crittenden and Todd all indicated in the “red.” Calloway, Lyon, Caldwell, Christian and Webster are in the “orange.” Fulton County (yellow) and Hickman County (green) were the only counties below advisable thresholds.
Stack noted there is medical hope that this variant, as transmissible as it is, does end up being a less-severe version of its counterparts, and added that mRNA vaccines such as Pfizer and Moderna are becoming the more medically-preferable treatments against severe disease and death.
Through Saturday, more than 17% of Kentuckians were fully vaccinated and boosted, while 62% were fully vaccinated — but not boosted.
Some counties in Kentucky still remain at a 33% vaccination rate or lower, and Stack said the concern is for both “Delta” and “Omicron” to hit these pockets in the state.
Because of “Omicron’s” ease-of-spread, Stack said to expect breakthrough cases to increase, with cold-like symptoms being a common indicator. Vaccines, however, are “keeping folks alive” and “out of the hospital.”
Kentuckians aged 5 and older remain eligible for COVID-19 vaccines, while those 16 and older and six months removed from their last dose are encouraged to receive boosters at this time.
