BY ROGER SMITH
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN

INEZ — Martin County is one of 12 Kentucky counties in yellow on the latest national COVID-19 risk map from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, indicating a medium community level of coronavirus.

Eight other Eastern Kentucky counties – Boyd, Carter, Floyd, Greenup, Johnson, Lawrence, Magoffin and Pike – are part of a yellow cluster that includes Boone, Cabell, Lincoln, Logan, Mingo and Wayne counties in West Virginia and Lawrence County, Ohio.

Three other Kentucky counties — Union, Henderson and Jefferson – and 10 other West Virginia counties also are in yellow.

Martin County Health Department announced 16 new COVID-19 during the first 16 days of May. As of Monday, the case count was 3,643, and the death toll was 50. There were nine active cases.

There have been 1,215 new COVID cases and nine related deaths in Martin County in 2022, with 605 cases and three deaths in January; 489 cases and two deaths in February; 95 cases and four deaths in March; 19 cases and zero deaths in April; and 16 cases and zero deaths to date in May.

The CDC says people in yellow counties who are immunocompromised or at high risk for severe illness should talk to a health-care provider about whether they need to wear a mask or take other precautions.