COVID-19 cases in KY pass 2,000 as death toll tops 100. At least 629 have recovered.
Gov. Andy Beshear Monday announced 87 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, bringing the state’s total to at least 2,048 in what was likely a low report because of lab closures over the Easter holiday. He announced the deaths of seven more Kentuckians, bringing the state’s death toll to 104 people.
At least 629 people have recovered from the virus.
“Now we know we’re in the escalation,” Beshear said. “We’ll see what we have tomorrow and if it’s going to balance out.”
Beshear announced that seven more people have died from causes related to the coronavirus including five people from Jefferson County (a 70-year-old woman, an 84-year-old woman, a 67-year-old woman, an 81-year-old woman and an 81-year-old man), an 81-year-old woman in Muhlenberg County and a 70-year-old man in Laurel County.
The Kentucky Capitol will fly its flag at half-staff for the next week now that the state has seen more than 100 coronavirus related deaths.
“Our commitment is to do better for everyone else out there who is at risk because of this virus,” Beshear said.
Around 29 percent of the coronavirus related deaths have been among people who are in nursing homes, which have been particularly hard hit by the virus in recent weeks. Outbreaks have occurred at nursing homes in Butler County, Jackson County, Adair County and Jefferson County.
On Monday, Beshear announced 10 more residents of nursing homes tested positive for the virus and five more residents died from coronavirus-related causes. In total, 182 residents and 117 staff members at 32 Kentucky nursing homes have tested positive for the virus.
“This is where the virus is deadly,” Beshear said. “And all over the country, this is where it’s striking.”
Around 21 percent of people who have died from causes related to the virus have been black, even though black people make up only about 8.4 percent of Kentucky’s population.
Beshear said this week he plans on listening to leaders of the black community about what the administration can be doing better.
“We weren’t tracking this data well enough at the beginning,” Beshear said. “I think more needs to be done. I think we need more education, more outreach, but we also need to listen.”
The state has continued to have issues processing unemployment claims as the system has been bombarded by requests from Kentuckians who are out of work because of the virus. Beshear said 100,692 claims were processed Sunday for a total of around $50 million.
“Anyone out there who hasn’t been helped yet, you’re right,” Beshear said, adding that his office is working to reconstruct the website in order to meet the demand and catch all of people who were made eligible by the federal coronavirus relief packages.
Beshear said the drive-through testing site the state recently opened in partnership with Kroger tested 97 people Monday. The state plans to ramp up testing, but it will still only apply to healthcare workers, first responders and high-risk populations that have symptoms of the virus. The state hopes to expand it to anyone who is presenting symptoms.
The state will open it’s second drive-through testing site in Kenton County on Wednesday. It hopes to be able to test 250 people a day.
“Northern Kentucky has been hit pretty hard,” Beshear said.
All testing requires an appointment which can be made here: https://www.thelittleclinic.com/drivethru-testing or by calling 1-888-852-2567.
This story was originally published April 13, 2020 at 5:53 PM.
