Woodford County COVID-19 outbreak linked to King’s Way Church; 80% of cases were not vaccinated

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WOODFORD COUNTY, Ky. (WKYT) – Woodford County currently leads Kentucky with the highest vaccination rates in the state.

Cassie Prather of the Woodford County Health Department says 65% of the adult population has received their doses.

Still, a group of around 40 people from the area tested positive after attending King’s Way Church.

“What is so disheartening for all of us involved is that we have done everything that everyone encouraged us to do and some,” said Pastor Jeff Johnson.

Johnson says they followed all CDC guidelines. When cleared to reopen, Johnson says they did it slowly.

With the virtual church until at least July 18, Johnson says he is focused on bringing the health of the community forward.

“I have to lead them all, respect their personal choices, but my responsibility is to lead by example, so I understood this very early on and I pleaded for everyone to be vaccinated”, a Johnson said. “We will continue to beat that drum and we will encourage people to be vigilant.”

The Woodford County Health Department says the spread also exceeds county boundaries, with cases in Fayette and Anderson counties. One person, who does not live in Woodford County, is in the hospital.

Woodford Co. leads Kentucky with the highest vaccination rates. Still, a group of 40 people in the area have tested positive after attending church.

Hear how experts say the spread could have been avoided by noon @WKYT pic.twitter.com/BsU6e1HRhw

– Grace Finerman (@GraceFinerman) July 9, 2021

In this case, health officials say 80% of positive cases came from people who had not been vaccinated.

Prather says the health department is talking with other church leaders to make sure something like this doesn’t happen again.

“It could really happen anywhere where you have a large group of people congregating inside, especially the unvaccinated ones and that’s the biggest threat, so the point to remember is that this could have been largely avoided and hopefully will be in the future because I hope it will increase the uptake of those who get vaccinated, ”said Prather.

Prather says they’re currently sending tests to a lab to see if any of those cases were the delta variant. She expects many positive results for the variant.

Experts say that the viral advance of the delta variant is higher, which means transmission can occur faster.

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