10 new deaths and 135 Kentucky COVID-19 cases. Child care reopening details provided.
Gov. Andy Beshear announced 135 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday in Kentucky, bringing the state’s total to at least 8,286 a day before restaurants are allowed to open at partial capacity. Ten more people with the virus have died, meaning 40 deaths have been announced in the last three days, for a total of 386.
Beshear also added several items to Kentucky’s reopening calendar, including in-home child care on June 8 and child care centers on June 15. For the first time, Beshear said his office was eyeing June 29 as a “target date” to reopen bars, and to allow groups as big as 50 to gather.
Beshear called Thursday’s newly diagnosed cases “one of the smallest [increases] we’ve seen in awhile,” adding that the number of new cases continues to plateau — “we are moving in the right direction” — though there “continues to be an elevated number of deaths.”
Kentucky Public Health Commissioner Steven Stack said he understands these two statistics may “seem inconsistent,” but the deaths over the last few days represent people who got sick about two weeks ago — when case numbers were consistently higher. If someone dies from the virus, it usually happens about 18 days after they contract it, Stack said, meaning “the people who got sick two weeks ago are now in the most severe part of their illness,” when they either recover or die from the virus.”
There have been 166,240 tests for COVID-19 administered as Kentucky continues to expand its capacity. Four new drive-thru Kroger locations will open next week in Fayette, Jefferson, Henderson and Warren counties.
Congregate living facilities continue to be hot spots for the virus. Beshear said 39 new long-term care facility residents have tested positive for the virus, as well as 27 staff. Six more residents have died. A fourth inmate with the virus also died at Lexington’s Federal Medical Center, local health officials reported Thursday.
Currently, 475 people are hospitalized with the virus, while 92 remain in intensive care units. Just over 3,000 have recovered — a rate of 36 percent.
More reopenings announced
Starting June 8, “in-home” child care centers that care for 10 or fewer children will be able to open, Cabinet for Health and Family Services Eric Friedlander said Thursday. Larger child care centers and day camps can open a few days later, on June 15, according to new guidance from the governor’s office.
Children and staff at these centers should stay with the same group for the whole day. Playground times are to be staggered, field trips won’t be allowed and neither will visitors, the guidelines say. Adults should wear masks in these facilities, but kids under the age of 5 don’t need to wear a mask. Those over age 5 should wear masks if they’re able to, Friedlander said.
On May 23, any Kentucky family with students eligible to receive free or reduced-cost meals during the school day will get financial assistance to pay for those meals at home, as part of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. Households with an Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) card will get those benefits added at a value equal to the cost of school breakfast and lunch. That extra money can be used to buy any items eligible under the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP).
Starting Friday, in addition to restaurants filling their indoor seating to 33 percent capacity — outdoor seating can reopen at normal capacity, as long as social distancing guidelines are heeded — people will be able to gather in groups of 10 or fewer for the first time since early March.
Since that time, “we’ve not been able to get together even with those groups, so we really want to do it safely,” Beshear said. “None of us want this first time we can get together in this way to be a time when we spread the virus.”
But even though people can visit, “we shouldn’t be touching each other,” he added. And “when you’re in close proximity, wear the mask and don’t touch your face.”
Barbershops, hair salons, nail salons, massage therapy businesses, tattoo and tanning parlors can open starting on Memorial Day.
Starting on June 1, aquatic centers can begin operating at 33 percent swimmer occupancy, according to new guidelines Beshear’s office put out Thursday. These pools, which must have swimming lanes, are for exercise only and limited to one swimmer in every other lane. “General leisure and entertainment swimming pool activities are prohibited,” the new guidelines say.
For swim teams practicing, each team member is allowed to have one visitor watching. But everyone, including coaches and swimmers, must maintain at least six feet of social distance. Congregating in groups of any kind isn’t allowed.
Auctions can also resume on June 1, and horse shows can start again on June 8. Bowling alleys, when they reopen on June 1, have to do so at no more than 33 percent capacity and can’t allow groups of more than 10 to bowl together. People who don’t live in the same household can’t bowl in the same lane.
This story was originally published May 21, 2020 at 5:42 PM.
