When I looked it up a few years ago Kentucky has about 60 cases a year reported Lyme disease. The key word here being reported.
When I was regularly shooting on my friends property out in the county, very forested and plenty of ticks, all my clothes were treated with Permethrin. Very effective stuff. Also keeping grass down below 4 in in height helps. Also ticks go dormant at 40° ground temperature. Which is why I always enjoyed shooting in the winter if it was above freezing.
One day I was sighting in a target and lo and behold there’s a tick crawling down the barrel of the rifle.
I think a lot of those cases are people that go out into the woods untreated and get so careless about it they don’t even check. I’ve seen some VERY nasty tick bites on the internet. I can’t imagine waiting that long to get rid of a tick. It makes no sense.
BTW, I discovered that showering right after coming in from the woods drastically reduces chigger bites.
FWIW, I have 32 acres, 25 of which is woods and the rest lawn. I spend a lot of time with clippers and a weed whacker. Long clothing and Permathrin are as critical to that as oil is in your engine.