402 new Kentucky COVID-19 cases Wednesday. Beshear promises ‘mandatory’ changes.
A concerning acceleration of the new coronavirus continued in Kentucky Wednesday as Gov. Andy Beshear announced 402 new cases of COVID-19, ratcheting the statewide total number of cases to at least 17,919.
Another six people have died from the novel coronavirus, their ages ranging from 67 to 77. The state’s death toll is now at 608.
Wednesday’s number of new reported infections is a slight uptick from Tuesday’s 371 cases, making it the second-largest daily increase since the first case was confirmed in Kentucky in early March. The most reported in a day was on May 5, when 625 new cases were reported, more than 300 of which came from an outbreak at the Green River Correctional Complex.
Beshear repeated on Wednesday in a written update that the state’s “rising case numbers are cause for concern,” adding that, in his televised news conference on Thursday, “we’re going to announce some new requirements that are going to be mandatory.”
Governors in close to 20 states have in recent weeks moved from recommending to now requiring that masks be worn in public, including in Ohio, Texas, North Carolina and New York. Last week, Beshear warned that if Kentucky’s cases started to markedly rise, he would consider mandating masks.
“Given what we are seeing across the country with exploding numbers in certain places, my commitment is to make sure that doesn’t happen here, but I can’t do it alone,” the governor said on Wednesday.
The state’s new infections include 79 cases in Jefferson County, 50 in Fayette County and 21 in Warren County. Cases continue to disproportionately increase among younger Kentuckians, especially those between the ages of 20 and 29.
The state’s three-day average of new cases is at 347, up from 206 last Wednesday.
Overall, Kentuckians are testing positive at a rate of 3.97 percent — the highest it’s been since early June — and the percentage of people who’ve tested positive between Sunday and Wednesday of this week is even higher, at 6.5 percent.
The World Health Organization has recommended that the rate of positive tests remain below 5 percent for at least 14 days before governments reopen.
Currently, there are 453 people hospitalized with the virus — an increase of 32 people from Tuesday — and 111 are in intensive care.
At least 451,451 tests have been administered and 4,912 have recovered.
This story was originally published July 8, 2020 at 5:09 PM.
