Louisville public health officials say they’ve seen an increase in demand for testing as the city manages a rise in COVID-19 cases.
Assistant Director of Louisville Public Health and Wellness Connie Mendel says the demand for COVID-19 tests have doubled in recent weeks. Residents took about 7,000 tests per week in July, but that doubled to around 14,000 tests in the first week of August.
“We encourage everyone to practice all the tools in the prevention toolkit for stopping the spread of COVID-19 – testing, wearing masks, good handwashing, social distancing, staying home when sick, and of course, getting vaccinated,” Mendel said.
Louisville is now seeing a critical level of COVID-19 spread because of the delta variant. That means the daily incidence rate is now 25 or more cases per 100,000 people. New cases per week reached their highest in the city since last October when the state was headed into its largest surge to date.
About half of Louisville residents are fully vaccinated, according to the city’s dashboard for the week of August 1.
The city recommends unvaccinated people get tested weekly, and that anyone get tested if they are showing symptoms, including cough, shortness of breath and loss of taste and smell.
“Anyone who is unvaccinated and travelling, attending large social gatherings or working in jobs that require frequent contact with the public should get tested,” said Dr. Jon Klein, Vice Dean for Research at the University of Louisville School of Medicine.
Residents can find a list of places to take a COVID-19 test at LouisvilleKY.gov.
