147 new Kentucky COVID-19 cases and 7 more deaths confirmed Tuesday. Total is 1,149.
Gov. Andy Beshear confirmed another 147 cases of COVID-19 and seven coronavirus-related deaths in Kentucky on Tuesday, for a total of 1,149 cases and 65 deaths.
Though Tuesday’s caseload increase is the “largest we’ve reported in a day,” Beshear said the state’s “three-day trend (about 80) is actually lower than our last three-day trend, and I’m not sure many places in America can say that right now.”
The new deaths included a 60-year-old man, a 70-year-old man, an 85-year-old man, and a 42-year-old man in Jefferson County; a 94-year-old woman and a 72-year-old woman in Lyon County; and an 83-year-old woman in Adair County.
Beshear said COVID-19 is spreading inside several nursing homes, a state prison and a psychiatric hospital, and that is “concerning.”
To date, 55 nursing home residents spread across 21 health care facilities have contracted COVID-19, he said, and 22 staff have tested positive. Eleven nursing home residents have died. There are 55 resident tests and 41 staff tests still pending, the Democratic governor said.
Congregate care facilities, including nursing homes, jails and prisons, continue to be locations where residents are particularly vulnerable to contracting the virus. Beshear said the Green River Correctional Complex in Central City is seeing its numbers of cases bloom: so far, 9 inmates and 5 staff have tested positive. The number of cases at Western State Hospital has increased to 13, included nine patients at the psychiatric facility and four staffers.
COVID-19 testing increases
Acquiring necessary equipment, including for testing, continues to be a challenge, Beshear said — “it’s the wild west right now” — and while the state’s overall testing capacity is increasing, it’s a piecemeal progress. The Lexington VA Medical System announced on Tuesday that it now has in-house lab has capacity to process close to 300 COVID-19 tests per day, with a turnover time of about seven hours.
Beshear over the weekend said Gravity Diagnostics in Northern Kentucky had acquired the capability to process up to 2,000 COVID-19 tests a day for the state. Commissioner of Public Health Dr. Steven Stack on Tuesday said Gravity Diagnostics has already distributing testing kits to most of the 32 designated hospitals scattered across the state whose capacity will be expanded as a result of that new partnership.
But, “these tests are not for everybody,” Stack said. The qualifying threshold for testing remains the same: a person must have classic, acute COVID-19 symptoms, including a fever, shortness of breath or cough, or diarrhea. The population prioritized for testing includes health care workers and first responders, people over age 60, or anyone who lives in a congregate setting. If there are still testing kits leftover, people with chronic medical problems get priority, Stack said.
The eventual goal is to “make tests available for everyone who needs it,” but “right now, we’re not there,” Stack said. So, as hospitals and clinics continue conserving the limited number of tests for those with the most acute COVID-19 symptoms, Stack said, “I support the hospitals and their decision-making.”
“In a world where resources are limited, we have to deploy a scarce resource to the greatest good,” he said.
Kentucky trying to remedy unemployment delays
Beshear said the state continues to refine its unemployment application system for the record numbers of Kentuckians applying, but they’re still hitting snags. Josh Benton, deputy secretary of the Cabinet for Education and Workforce Development, said by the weekend his department should have between 1,000 and 1,200 people staffing the call center lines that were previously staffed by just a dozen employees.
“If we need more, we’ll add more. That is our priority, is to fix this,” Benton said. “We’re doing everything we can to add capacity.”
For those who applied for benefits and got a letter saying they didn’t qualify, that is being remedied, Benton said.
“If you received that, it can be disregarded,” and “you may actually receive your first payment before you receive your approval letter,” he said. “No one should be getting those denial letters.”
Kentucky residents who need advice about seeking treatment for COVID-19 may call (800) 722-5725. Anyone with personal protective equipment items to donate should call (833)-GIVE-PPE, or visit giveppe.ky.gov, or items can be taken to any state police post.
Beshear said the top three items the state needs are N95 masks, latex-free gloves and surgical gowns.
Kentuckians can call 1-833-KYSAFER to report people and businesses not following social distancing guidelines issued by federal and state officials. Donations to help people who have been economically affected by the virus can be made to the Team Kentucky fund. Tax-free donations can be made at donate.ky.gov.
Visit Kentucky’s coronavirus website, kycovid19.ky.gov, for more guidance about the disease.
This story was originally published April 7, 2020 at 5:55 PM.
