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With other parts of the state reporting higher numbers of coronavirus cases per day, Harlan County’s has dropped to the lowest rate reported since mid-August, according to Judge-Executive Dan Mosley. The county concluded last week with 21 new cases. 

On Monday, Mosley said confirmation was received of one additional case, which brought the county’s overall total to 589 since the start of the pandemic. 

There are 24 active cases of COVID-19 in Harlan, with two being hospitalized. 

The death total has also risen to 14.

“There are currently 55 counties out of 120 total counties in Kentucky that are in the red category,” Mosley said referring to the state incidence map. “The governor issued new recommendations for counties that are in the red category. Fortunately, we don’t have to worry about those right now. 

“Today (Oct. 26), Harlan County, remains in the orange category at 10.4, getting extremely close to dropping into the yellow category. This is the lowest our incidence rate has been since Sept. 24. It’s important that our case incidence rate stays in the orange, yellow or green categories so that our kids can continue to receive in-person instruction and enjoy other opportunities they love.”

As of noon on Oct. 26, 8,566 tests have been conducted. Of those, 7,978 tests have been negative

“Our positivity rate in Harlan County has remained steady at where we’ve been over the last month at 6.8 percent overall,” he said. “Since last Monday, we saw a decrease with 5.2 percent of the tests that have been done in Harlan County over the last week being positive, which is down from 8.0 percent the previous week.”

The governor announced 953 new cases on Monday in Kentucky, setting the total cases at 97,866. The state’s death total from COVID-19 is now at 1,410. 

Kentucky’s positivity rate currently sits at 5.84 percent, a sharp increase from last week. 

The United States death toll from COVID-19 is now over 225,500, up more than 5,500 deaths since Monday evening of last week. 

For more information regarding COVID-19 in Harlan County, contact the Harlan County Health Department at 606-573-4820.