Kentucky passes 4,000 total cases of COVID-19 as health care reopening begins Monday
Gov. Andy Beshear Sunday announced 202 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the state past 4,079 as the state prepares to start reopening the healthcare system.
“It tells you that it’s still out there and it’s still spreading, but all in all I do believe it has plateaued,” Beshear said.
The number of people who are currently hospitalized and currently in the ICU has remained relatively steady, and on Sunday Beshear announced that there are 308 people currently in the hospital with the virus, 166 of which are in intensive care. At least 1,511 people have recovered from the virus.
Beshear announced three new deaths, two in Adair County and one in Jackson County, which is the lowest amount of new deaths in several days. The state’s death toll is currently at 208, which means the virus currently has around a 5 percent death rate in Kentucky.
Many of the deaths have come from nursing homes, where the virus has spread quickly. Beshear announced that eight new residents of nursing homes tested positive, seven new staffers tested positive and one resident died. That means 610 residents of nursing homes in Kentucky have tested positive for the virus and 95 residents have died.
“I don’t want to sugarcoat it, the coronavirus is deadly in these settings,” Beshear said.
On Monday, the state is starting what it calls its phase one healthcare reopening, which will allow for urgent and non-emergent health care providers to reopen, along with diagnostic radiation. Surgeries and invasive procedures are not included in phase one.
The healthcare providers are required to operate with restrictions, including ensuring that all staff and patients are wearing masks and eliminating the use of waiting rooms. Dr. Steven Stack, Kentucky’s public health commissioner, said the state recently received guidance from the state’s dental association about precautions dentists need to take to reopen.
They urged healthcare providers not to reopen if they can’t meet the requirements for personal protective equipment.
“Just because you can reopen doesn’t mean you should,” Stack said. “Unless you can comply with all of the requirements.”
Stack said that from a public health standpoint, it’s still earlier than they would like to start reopening healthcare facilities, but that they’re trying to balance the public health with people’s needs. Beshear said that people have been showing up to emergency rooms with severe cases, which he said indicates that the health care system needs to start reopening.
The state will also continue its push to test more people on Monday, as 11 testing sites will be open throughout the state. Two of those sites will be in Lexington — one for the general public at Bluegrass Community and Technical College and one for healthcare providers and people with symptoms at the Walgreens on Executive Drive. The state’s testing site at BCTC is completely booked and appointments for the second week of testing will open Wednesday.
Lexington has had relatively slow growth with new coronavirus cases. Only five people tested positive in Lexington over the weekend, bringing the city’s total to 237.
There are around seven benchmarks Beshear is looking at to start reopening the rest of the state, which he called “a bit of a science and bit of an art.” Beshear said he will be issuing more guidance about a larger, statewide reopening on Monday. Currently, Kentucky has not seen much of a decrease in coronavirus cases and the state is still working on improving its testing capacity.
This story was originally published April 26, 2020 at 6:05 PM.
