KY reports 272 new COVID-19 cases. Beshear: Wear masks to avoid reopening reversal.
Noting that Kentucky’s number of COVID-19 infections continues to climb, Gov. Andy Beshear announced 272 new cases on Monday, edging the statewide total up to at least 19,653.
As is typically the case on Mondays, the new number of cases is artificially low because fewer tests are processed over the weekend. “We expect this number, sadly, to be higher tomorrow,” Beshear said. “We continue to see high numbers of cases.”
Four more people with the virus have died, their ages ranging from 60 to 90. The death toll is at least 629.
New infections continue to soar across the country, forcing even more states over the weekend to shutter businesses that were recently reopened. “We do not want to have to do that here in the commonwealth,” Beshear said. The best way to avoid that, he said, is for Kentuckians to wear masks in public. The executive order mandating this act went into effect on Friday.
“We know the virus doesn’t respect our borders. We know Kentuckians are traveling all over the country and continue to go to places that are setting all-time records for numbers of cases,” he said. “It’s now a scientific fact: wearing a mask protects you [and] makes it less likely you will get the virus. It also keeps you from spreading the virus to other people. Surely no one wants COVID-19, so wear a mask.”
At least 480,372 tests have been administered. The current rate of people testing positive is 4.35 percent — nearly twice as high as it was at the end of June.
State Public Health Commissioner Steven Stack likened the rise in cases across Kentucky to riding a roller coaster and climbing that first big hill, “You feel that sudden lurch when the chain kicks in. That’s where we are right now. We’re starting to climb, and the question is, how tall is that first hill.”
How many Kentuckians cooperate with the state’s mask mandate will ultimately determine its height, Stack said. “It’s not too late. Wear these masks and keep that hill small. That hill means people’s lives [and] means people being able to get back to business, back to work and back to the activities they want.”
Beshear on Monday noted the uptick in positive cases among children and staff connected to daycare centers — at least 20 staff and nine children have so far contracted the virus. Likewise with nursing homes and independent living facilities, where, since Friday, 25 more residents and 37 staff have tested positive, and 10 more residents have died. In total, 409 people from long-term care facilities have died, accounting for close to 65 percent of the state’s virus-related deaths.
Lexington’s number of daily cases also continues to reach new heights. On Monday, the Lexington-Fayette Health Department reported 89 new cases from the weekend, pushing the total number of cases past 2,000. New infections have increased by 523 so far this month, 363 of which were confirmed last week, according to the health department.
Though the Democratic governor has gotten blowback from some top state Republicans for his executive order last week mandating that facial coverings be worn in virtually all public places to slow the spread of infection, a new poll suggests the governor’s order is sitting well with most Kentuckians.
Close to 70 percent of those surveyed agreed with the steps Beshear has taken to try and control the state’s outbreak, according to a poll conducted last week by the Garin-Hart-Yang Research Group and released on Monday by the Kentucky Democratic Party.
Of the 601 people surveyed, 73 percent said they support requiring people to wear masks when indoors and in mass gatherings outdoors. Of that 73 percent, 95 percent of Democrats, 66 percent of Independents and 58 percent of Republicans supported the mandate.
Most Kentuckians polled — roughly three in five — said they still view COVID-19 as a serious public health threat, agreeing that “the worst is yet to come.”
This story was originally published July 13, 2020 at 4:42 PM.
