674 new Kentucky coronavirus cases push total above 24,000. Three more deaths.
The surge of COVID-19 continues in Kentucky as Gov. Andy Beshear announced 674 new cases of the coronavirus on Tuesday, bringing the case total to 24,060.
“That’s not good news,” Beshear said during a daily update in the Capitol rotunda. “I hope when we see 674 new cases, we know we’ve got to do better.”
Three more people with the virus have died, including a 63-year-old man in Calloway County; a 91-year-old woman in Casey County; and a 95-year-old man in Shelby County.
Tuesday’s new infections include 22 kids under the age of 5 — a demographic where infections are “increasing significantly,” the governor said. Likewise for older adults in nursing homes, the virus continues to spread. On Tuesday, seven new residents and 24 staff tested positive, and six more resident deaths were linked to COVID-19.
Reminding residents that “there is no safe region in Kentucky anymore,” he again pleaded for people to act responsibly and help slow the accelerating spread by wearing a mask, keeping hands clean, staying six feet apart and not taking out-of-state trips to known hotspots. On Monday, he issued an advisory asking anyone who travels to a state where the infection rate is 15 percent or higher to quarantine for two weeks once they get home. Some of those states include Florida, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Texas.
On Tuesday, he was more blunt. “I need you to cancel your plans if you’re going to a beach” in one of these states, he said. “It’s just not safe.”
If infection rates continue escalating, the White House’s guidance is to take a piecemeal approach to squashing that surge by requiring masks, which Kentucky has already done, closing bars, and reducing restaurant capacity to 25 percent.
Beshear said he’s trying to avoid taking those last two steps. “I don’t want to have to do this,” he said. But if cases continue to rise, it’ll likely become inevitable.
Whether to start the school year in person is also up for debate in districts across the state. Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman on Tuesday asked districts to be adaptable and prioritize student and staff safety as they make these decisions.
“I cannot say this enough: at the heart of [a district’s] reopening plan should be the health and safety of every child and every adult in the building,” she said. “That should be first and foremost.”
The state has so far allowed for districts to use an unlimited number of non-traditional instruction days, but many districts will likely resume some form of in-person classes. Since this will invariably lead to virus spread, Coleman said the state is giving staff and faculty an “unlimited” number of days off so they can quarantine if they’re exposed without having to dip into personal time.
The number of people hospitalized with the virus is up to 532, which Beshear said was “worrisome,” though he noted that Kentucky’s hospitals are not yet close to being overwhelmed with coronavirus-positive patients. “We’re not at that critical point, yet. That’s ‘yet,’” he said.
There are currently 136 people in intensive care, and at least 6,927 people have recovered from the virus.
At least 549,208 tests have been administered. The seven-day average rate of people testing positive is at 4.4 percent.
This story was originally published July 21, 2020 at 4:40 PM.
