797 new Kentucky coronavirus cases and 7 deaths. Rate of positive tests exceeds 5%.
Gov. Andy Beshear announced 797 new cases of COVID-19 in Kentucky Friday, bringing the total number of cases to 25,931 as the virus continues to spread quickly. He announced seven more deaths, bringing the total to 691.
“We are continuing to see an increase and a growth that we absolutely need to stop,” Beshear said. “If we don’t see the numbers come down, we’ll have both a series of recommendations and steps we will need to take sometime next week.”
Beshear said he hopes to soon see benefits from the executive order he issued earlier this month mandating masks when in public spaces.
“We are still dealing with the world as it was two weeks ago,” Beshear said. “And I don’t think that we as a state are acting the same way that we did two weeks ago. I think we are doing a lot better in what it takes to defeat the virus.”
There are 618 Kentuckians in the hospital with the coronavirus, 130 of whom are in intensive care.
Beshear has said his next steps will involve lowering the capacity allowed in restaurants and shutting down bars. Earlier this week, he asked the Kentucky Council of Churches to forgo in-person services for two weeks. His office said it was a request, not an executive order.
“We’re going to have to close down bars if we don’t get control of this,” Beshear said. “And if you’re a bar and you’re not requiring everybody to do what’s required, you’re shutting yourself down.”
The state has announced 44,752 new COVID-19 tests since Sunday, bringing the total number of tests conducted to 574,233. Beshear said 5.28 percent of tests completed in the last week were positive, which crosses the threshold for when public health experts recommend rolling back openings.
“That is now over the five percent mark that the White House and others have said is a danger zone,” Beshear said.
As of Friday, at least 2,300 residents of long-term care facilities have tested positive for the virus and 1,267 staff members. There have been 458 nursing home related deaths, an increase of 6 deaths from Thursday.
The administration has attempted to avoid reimposing stricter restrictions on businesses, in fear that it would cause more layoffs and would force some businesses to shut down permanently. The extra $600 people have been able to receive in unemployment from the federal government is set to expire this weekend.
The state has struggled to process the high number of unemployment claims over the course of the pandemic. In June, hundreds of people descended on Frankfort in order to get in-person help with their unemployment claims. In response, the administration entered a contract with Ernst and Young to help process unemployment claims.
Beshear said Friday that he will extend the contract with Ernst and Young for another five weeks for $4.4 million. Beshear said the money for the contract will come from the federal government and that Ernst and Young has already helped process 56,000 claims.
“It has been a significant amount of work, without which we would be far, far behind,” Beshear said.
Josh Benton, who oversaw the state’s unemployment woes as deputy secretary of the Cabinet for Education and Workforce Development Cabinet, has resigned “to pursue a career opportunity outside of state government,” according to JT Henderson, the communications director for the cabinet. The unemployment office was moved to the Labor Cabinet earlier this summer.
This story was originally published July 24, 2020 at 4:17 PM.
