After a brief dip in coronavirus cases, Louisville has returned to the red zone for daily incidence rates.
Last week, city leaders reported lower COVID-19 numbers across several metrics. Louisville got to the orange zone for the first time in months.
Now, the daily incidence rate has reached 31 cases per 100,000 people. This places the city back into the red zone.
Along with the increase in daily incidence rate, the city saw more than 1,600 new cases and 13 new deaths.
“It takes no time at all for the numbers to go up, and it takes a very long time for them to trail back down,” assistant director of the city’s department of public health and wellness, Dr. SarahBeth Hartlage said.
Health officials said they could not pinpoint an exact cause, but mentioned both Halloween celebrations and fall break travel as possible factors.
Although coronavirus cases have been on the rise, the city has also begun to roll out vaccines for the newest eligible age group.
“Since the approval last week of Pfizer doses for ages 5 to 11, we have seen 888 children in that demographic group be vaccinated as well,” Hartlage said.
Hartlage also said that 58% of Jefferson County residents have completed their entire vaccine series, not counting boosters.
