Churchill Downs Reveals 47 COVID-19 Cases From Testing

Amid speculation that tests conducted of horsemen at Churchill Downs had generated a spike in positive COVID-19 cases there, track officials announced Aug. 26 that 47 new cases were discovered there among staff, vendors, and horsemen in testing from Aug. 19-24.

In a news release that accompanied the tally, Churchill Downs said 1,823 tests were conducted, indicating a positivity rate of 2.6%. That figure is below the current seven-day rolling average positivity rate in the state of 4.6%.

Positivity rates can be partially skewed by testing availability. When tests are in short supply or not easily accessible, a larger percentage of people exhibiting symptoms are tested, causing a higher positivity rate. As more tests become available, or tests are performed on a group of individuals not showing signs of illness, lower rates are more common.

Churchill is not the first track in the state with a large number of COVID-19 cases. On June 19, Keeneland confirmed that 27 backstretch workers had tested positive there over the preceding three months when over 1,000 tests were performed. 

Kentucky reported 696 cases of COVID-19 Wednesday and seven deaths.

Churchill Downs is located in Louisville in Jefferson County, the most populous county in the state, where 11,018 cases of COVID-19 have been reported this year, according to data published by the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services. 

Churchill's announcement of COVID-19 positives comes after the track said Aug. 21 it would not run the Sept. 5 Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) and other Derby week races with fans in attendance, as it had intended in a restricted capacity. This decision came following a summer in which cases of COVID-19 had risen in the city and racial justice protests began occurring regularly.

One of those protests took place outside Churchill Downs Aug. 25, resulting in more than 60 arrests. More protests are planned by organizers outside the track during Derby week.

COVID-19 testing at Churchill Downs is ongoing. Any individual that is permitted entrance into the stable area will receive a one-time U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved polymerase chain reaction test.

Those who do not pass the test or medical screening will be denied entry onto the premises and asked to isolate per Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Louisville Public Health guidelines.