LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Forty-nine more Kentuckians who tested positive for COVID-19 have died, Gov. Andy Beshear announced Wednesday alongside 3,433 new cases.
Wednesday's single-day death toll falls just shy of a record 54 deaths reported Dec. 17 and brings the state to 3,243 deaths reported since March 2020, according to a news release from the governor's office.
Among the victims Wednesday were a 102-year-old woman and two men, ages 74 and 93, from Jefferson County. According to data from Kentucky Public Health, more than half of the Kentuckians who have died from COVID-19 were ages 70 or older.
Kentucky's positivity rate, which measures the proportion of coronavirus tests returning positive, fell from 11.55% on Tuesday to 11.29% on Wednesday, the lowest it has been since Jan. 5. The governor said Wednesday also marks the fifth consecutive day the positivity rate has remained below 12%.
"While there is still so much pain and darkness in our commonwealth due to this pandemic, we are beginning to see the light ahead of us," Beshear said in the news release. "This plateauing positivity rate is great news for Kentucky, especially as we continue to bring more of these live-saving vaccines to our people each week."
Of the new cases reported Wednesday, 436 were confirmed in Jefferson County, according to Kentucky Public Health. Data from Wednesday show 116 of the state's 120 counties experiencing a "critical" spread of the virus.
As of Wednesday, 1,678 Kentuckians were hospitalized with COVID-19, the governor said, while 399 were being treated for the virus in intensive care units. More than 200 patients were on ventilators.
On the vaccine front, 232,127 doses have been administered as of Wednesday, according to the Kentucky Department for Public Health's website. In a tweet Wednesday, Beshear said the state needs the federal government to "double the amount of vaccine we receive every week so we can keep this pace."
"We've proven that we are efficient," the governor said in the tweet. We've proven that we can get this vaccine into people’s arms."
For most people, COVID-19 causes mild or moderate symptoms that clear up within weeks. The vast majority of people recover. Of Kentucky's 334,321 confirmed cases reported since March, at least 41,240 have recovered, according to Kentucky Public Health.
But for others, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, the virus can cause severe symptoms and be fatal.
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