Mayor Linda Gorton and members of the Healthcare Stakeholders group, people who started meeting to prepare for the pandemic even before Lexington experienced its first case of COVID-19, today updated the community on recent updates in the fight against the disease.
“It has been a long fight, but it’s not over,” Mayor Linda Gorton said. “We’ve asked a lot of our citizens and they have responded. As of today 70% of our citizens, age 18 and over, are fully vaccinated. That’s a great accomplishment. Unfortunately, there’s more to do to put COVID behind us.”
The group emphasized:
- First, we need to underscore the continued importance of getting a free vaccine. COVID-19 is surging. In four months – March through June – we had just over 3,000 confirmed cases. Now, just in the past four weeks, we’ve already had over 4,000 reported cases. By a significantly large margin, most patients now in the hospital with COVID-19 are people who are not vaccinated.
- The FDA has now formally approved the Pfizer vaccine – we hope that will encourage more people to get a vaccine.
- Lexington is seeing a significant increase among young people. About 15% of current cases are occurring in children, age 5 – 17, with a significant increase since June.
- Vaccines are available for children age 12 and above.
- Please do not go to the hospital emergency room for a COVID test or a vaccine. Our hospitals report that emergency rooms are already overcrowded with COVID-19 patients.
- It is important to get tested to slow the spread of COVID-19. There are new free testing options for pre-K – 12 students, teachers and staff … this is a huge step we are taking to keep our children in school. We’ve partnered with several entities in our community to add this testing. This helps us build our resiliency as we fight this virus while keeping our kids in school safely.
- The new testing sites will help relieve the pressure on the College Way site, where the public has access to free testing. I want to thank the University of Kentucky for all it has done to help this community with testing and vaccines, plus the care that has been given to COVID cases in the University’s hospital.
- Wear a mask, especially when you are indoors in a crowd.
- A third dose is available now at the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department for those who are immunocompromised.
- The CDC is developing a plan to begin offering COVID-19 booster shots this fall.
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FREE TESTING SCHOOLS
Free COVID-19 tests are available at the following locations schools pre-K – 12 students, faculty, staff members only.
Times: 2 – 6 p.m. at all sites. Test type: PCR only, rapid tests may be added later. Scheduling: same day appointments at lexington.wildhealth.com.
LOCATION & DAYS OF OPERATION
South
Where: Immanuel Baptist Church, 2261 Armstrong Mill Rd, Lexington, KY 40515
Starting: Aug. 28
Days of operation: Monday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday
Central
Where: Fayette Co Public Schools, 100 Midland Ave, Lexington, KY 40508
Starting: Aug. 26
Days of operation: 7 days per week
North
Where: Lexington Legends Ballpark, 207 Legends Ln, Lexington, KY 40505
Starting: Aug. 31
Days of operation: Tuesday, Wednesday
