191 new Kentucky coronavirus cases and 7 more deaths. Churches can increase capacity.
Gov. Andy Beshear announced 191 new cases of COVID-19 in Kentucky Wednesday, bringing the state’s total to 11,883 as officials monitor a higher number of new cases to make sure the disease remains under control. He also announced seven new deaths, bringing the state’s death toll to 484.
“That is within a range where we believe it is controlled,” Beshear said of the new cases. “Of course we’d like zero, but 191 doesn’t rise to the high concern level.”
A significant number of new cases continue to be reported in Lexington, Louisville and Bowling Green, where there is a larger population and a significant amount of testing. Beshear’s administration has reported a higher number of cases in Louisville than the city has reported.
Beshear said Robertson County is the only county in Kentucky where a COVID-19 case hasn’t been reported.
There are 978 coronavirus cases in Lexington, according to the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department, an increase of 31 cases from Tuesday.
There are 508 people in the hospital with virus, 68 of whom are in intensive care. At least 3,375 Kentuckians have recovered from the virus.
The state has conducted a total of 302,347 tests conducted in Kentucky, an increase of 14,750 tests from Tuesday and the equivalent of 6.77 percent of the population. Beshear said there are at least 189 testing facilities throughout the state.
“This means everybody, absolutely everybody, has a testing site close to them,” Beshear said.
Beshear recommended that anyone who has been at a demonstration or march get tested at one of the state’s free testing sites. Beshear said it is still too early to see if there have been any COVID-19 cases from protests in Louisville and Lexington, which have been going on for nearly two weeks.
The state will have testing sites operated by Kroger in Fayette, Jefferson, Warren and Oldham counties next week. The Oldham County location will be open Tuesday through Thursday. Kentuckians can find all of the state’s 189 testing sites at https://kycovid19.ky.gov.
The increased testing has enabled the state to continue reopening amid an uptick in cases. Churches, which were able to open to 33 percent capacity on May 9, are now allowed to increase their capacity to 50 percent. Other businesses that opened at 33 percent capacity can increase to 50 percent one month after they were allowed to reopen.
Of the people who have died from the virus, 65 percent have been either residents or staff members of nursing homes. Beshear said 1,438 nursing home residents and 694 staff members have been infected with the virus. That’s a decrease from Tuesday, which Beshear attributed to an error in reporting the data.
The state has seen a disproportionate number of cases and deaths among black Kentuckians. Beshear pledged Monday to get 100 percent of black Kentuckians signed up for health insurance.
“When we’ve got people dying at an unacceptable rate... we all ought to understand a priority in where we start in signing people up,” Beshear said.
This story was originally published June 10, 2020 at 4:32 PM.
