155 new Kentucky coronavirus cases and 3 deaths. Total cases reach 10,185.
Gov. Andy Beshear announced 155 new cases of COVID-19 in Kentucky Tuesday, bringing the state’s total number of coronavirus cases to 10,185 in a pandemic that has been somewhat overshadowed by protests over police violence.
Following several days of more than 200 new cases, Beshear said he still believes the number of new cases is declining or plateaued. There’s not enough data to determine if there’s a “new bump” in cases as the economy reopens, he said.
“It’s just going to take a little bit of time,” Beshear said. “And we want to get it right and we don’t want to make guesses.”
Beshear announced three new coronavirus-related deaths in Kentucky, bringing the state’s total to 442. There are currently 481 people in the hospital due to the virus, 85 of which are in intensive care. At least 3,275 people have recovered.
Black Kentuckians, who make up around 8 percent of the population, continue to be disproportionately affected by the virus. Beshear said Tuesday that 17.29 percent of the people who have died from the virus are black, which he said illustrates inequalities in Kentucky’s health care system.
“It is certainly a time in America where our inequalities have been laid bare,” Beshear said. “And it is our job to make sure that is not the case going forward.”
Beshear did not say how many of the new COVID-19 cases are related to nursing homes. Throughout the pandemic, more than 50 percent of the deaths have been related to nursing homes.
The state also announced that 17,000 additional coronavirus tests have been conducted, bringing the percentage of people who were tested and received a positive result to 4.02 percent in Kentucky.
In Lexington, the number of new COVID-19 cases has been increasing in the community over the past couple of weeks. On Tuesday, the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department announced 21 new cases in Fayette County, bringing the total in Kentucky’s second largest city to 781. None of those cases were at the Federal Medical Center, a prison on Leestown Road that has struggled to contain an outbreak of the virus.
“It is important for the community to realize COVID-19 is not over – Lexington has seen a daily increase in cases (non-FMC) since mid-May,” said Kevin Hall, the spokesman for the health department. “As businesses re-open and people return to some pre-COVID-19 activities, it’s important to continue following public health guidelines.”
Much of Beshear’s news conference was spent talking about the ongoing protests in Louisville and Lexington and the death of David McAtee, a Louisville restaurant owner who was killed in a gunfire exchange with Louisville police and the National Guard as they attempted to disperse a crowd of protesters early Monday morning.
Beshear said the protests are important, but he encouraged protesters to wear masks and stay away from anyone who is at a high risk for complications from the virus.
Any spike in COVID-19 cases stemming from the protests would not show up in data for a week or two.
This story was originally published June 2, 2020 at 4:31 PM.
