159 new Kentucky coronavirus cases and 7 more deaths. Drive-thru testing expanding.
Gov. Andy Beshear reported 159 new confirmed cases of novel coronavirus in Kentucky Thursday, bringing the statewide total to 2,429 as he announced an expansion of drive-thru testing next week for all who have COVID-19 symptoms in four regions of the state.
Beshear said the state is partnering with Kroger to offer drive-thru testing on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday next week in Madisonville, Paducah, Somerset and Pikeville. They hope to test about 330 people a day in each location and it will be open to anyone with symptoms. Appointments are required and can be made at krogerhealth.com/covidtesting.
Hopkins County, where Madisonville is located, has been hit particularity hard by the coronavirus. The county, which has about 44,686 people according to the latest census estimate, has seen 110 confirmed cases of the virus and 9 deaths.
Beshear also announced seven coronavirus-related deaths, bringing the state’s death toll to 129. Of the announced deaths Thursday, three were from Jefferson County, one was from Jackson County, one was from Adair County, one was from Shelby County and one was from Graves County.
There are 477 Kentuckians hospitalized with the virus, including 333 people in intensive care. At least 956 people have recovered.
One of the new coronavirus patients announced Thursday was a 10-day-old baby from Lincoln County, Beshear said.
At nursing homes, where the virus can spread easily and has proved deadly, Beshear announced that 27 new residents and 11 staff members tested positive for COVID-19 Thursday, bringing those statewide totals to 283 residents and 148 staffers. Thirty-eight people associated with nursing homes have died from the virus.
Inmates at Green River Correctional Facility and their families have been critical of Beshear’s response to the outbreak in the prison. Beshear said Thursday that 19 inmates and 14 staff at the facility have contracted coronavirus, an increase of one inmate and one staff member since Wednesday.
“I know the folks inside that institution are scared,” Beshear said. “We’re going to do all we can.”
Amid mounting pressure to start reopening the economy, Beshear said the state has partnered with six other states to work on reopening the economy. Despite announcements from the governors of Ohio and Indiana that they would begin reopening their respective states in early May, Beshear said he wants to study recommendations from the Trump Administration before setting any dates.
“In every plan, reopening is gradual, it is in phases,” Beshear said. “Let’s remember that until there is a vaccine, we’re still going to be doing some things very, very differently.”
On Wednesday a group of more than 100 protesters crowded outside the media briefing room at the Capitol and nearly drowned out Beshear as he was reading off the nightly death toll from the virus. On Thursday, his staff worked on soundproofing the briefing room and State Police had erected barricades on the back side of the Capitol. Beshear encouraged the protesters, who vowed to return Friday, to hold a drive-thru protest.
Dr. Steven Stack, Kentucky’s public health commissioner, said the protest was dangerous because if just one person was positive, it could end up infecting multiple people.
“This is a really difficult tension between the people’s right to gather and the people’s right not to get hurt,” Stack said.
Beshear said the state will use sites at Lake Barkley State Resort Park and Lake Cumberland State Resort Park to house people with mild cases of COVID-19 or who have been exposed to the disease and can’t safely go home to self-isolate. He said there will be limited medical services available at the sites.
This story was originally published April 16, 2020 at 6:08 PM.
