The Community Levels Map uses a color-coded system – green (low), yellow (medium), red (high). Recommendations on the most appropriate mitigation strategies for the public to use are based on these colors. Detailed recommendations can be found on the CDC’s website, but KDPH has a simplified version available along with the current CL map at kycovid19.ky.gov. KDPH’s guidance says:
* All levels: Stay up-to-date on vaccinations, stay home when sick and, for those at high risk for complications, talk to a healthcare provider about preventative treatments;
* Low (green) level: Wear a mask based on personal preference and use targeted masking in indoor areas following exposures;
* Medium (yellow) level: masking guidance changes from being based on personal preference to consider universal masking in indoor, congregate settings and high-risk individuals are advised to consider wearing a well-fitting mask when in public and indoors; and
* High (red) level: Wear a well-fitting mask in all indoor public settings, limit in-person gatherings, reduce gathering sizes, encourage social distancing and, for those at high risk, consider avoiding non-essential indoor public activities.
Three indicators are used to determine a county’s Community Level: new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people in the past seven days, new COVID-19 admissions per 100,000 population (7-day total) and percent of staffed inpatient beds occupied by COVID-19 patients (7-day average). First, determine if the county has more or less than 200 cases/100k/week; then the level is determined based on the higher of the two hospitalization-related metrics.
When under 200 cases/100k/week, a county turns yellow when new COVID admissions are 10.0-19.9 or the percent of staffed beds are 10.0-14.9%; above those thresholds, the county is red. For counties with 200 or more cases/100k/week, the parameters are stricter. At that case rate, a county cannot be green, but it will be yellow so long as both hospital metrics stay below 10; otherwise, it is red.
“Once you get over that threshold for new cases, then they are much more stringent about the hospital capacity numbers. It takes less patients in the hospital for them to be concerned because you have so many cases in the community,” Murray-Calloway County Hospital Vice President of Patient Care Services Jeff Eye explained. “When you have less than that, they are giving more capacity to be taken up by COVID in the hospital because there are just not a lot of cases in the community; but once you get above that threshold, you’re at a much higher risk, depending on how many patients you have in the hospital.” n
