280 new Kentucky COVID-19 cases and 8 deaths. Myrtle Beach visitors should isolate.
Gov. Andy Beshear announced 280 new cases of COVID-19 in Kentucky on Thursday, edging the statewide total up to at least 14,617. Eight more people with the virus have died, bringing the death toll to 546.
Thursday’s deaths included a 63-year-old man from Fayette County, a 69-year-old man from Christian County, and three women from Shelby County, ages 84, 90 and 93.
“Each of these souls was a mother or father, or sister or brother, or a friend, a daughter, a husband, the list goes on,” Beshear said in a written update. “They were each special to so many other people, whose names we may never know, but whose pain right now is extraordinary.”
Currently there are 377 Kentuckians hospitalized with the novel coronavirus, and 79 in intensive care. At least 3,719 people have recovered.
The number of tests administered is up to 375,636. The state is still in the process of testing all of its long-term care facilities, where elderly residents are extremely vulnerable to the virus. So far at least 1,780 residents and 849 staff have contracted the virus.
Starting on Monday at assisted living and personal care homes, restricted visitation will resume as will group activities with 10 or fewer people, communal dining and off-site appointments.
Beginning on July 15, visitation can resume in nursing homes and in Intermediate Care Facilities for Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities.
Activities at these places will be eased into “without taking an eye off the treat that remains with COVID-19,” Cabinet for Health and Family Services Secretary Eric Friedlander said on Thursday.
Earlier on Thursday, Beshear’s office issued an advisory urging anyone who has traveled to and from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina in the last two weeks to self-quarantine for 14 days and monitor themselves for COVID-19 symptoms. New cases of the virus at the popular summer destination have ballooned in recent weeks.
“If you or someone to whom you are close has been to Myrtle Beach in the past two weeks, please be aware that you have a good probability of having been exposed to the novel coronavirus,” said Dr. Steven Stack, state public health commissioner.
On Wednesday, Stack and Beshear warned Kentuckians about traveling to out-of-state places with documented outbreaks. They said virus clusters in at least two groups of people had been traced back to their visits to Myrtle Beach. In one cluster, a group of 12 people traveled to Myrtle Beach on June 11. Within days of returning, nine had tested positive.
This story was originally published June 25, 2020 at 5:35 PM.
