‘We need to see a significant reduction.’ 785 new KY COVID-19 cases and 6 deaths.
Gov. Andy Beshear announced 785 new cases of COVID-19 in Kentucky on Thursday, edging the state’s case total up to 37,686.
“Today’s report continues [with a] significantly high number, though nothing like yesterday,” Beshear said in his daily update. Wednesday’s new cases set a single-day record, at 1,163.
Six more people with the virus have died, including a 56-year-old man in Carter County and a 92-year-old man in Jefferson County. The death toll now stands at 796.
“There are those that want to say this is only harming people of a certain age,” the governor said. “56 isn’t old.”
The rate of people testing positive is up slightly to 5.67 percent — “again, we need to see a significant reduction,” he said.
Thursday’s new cases include 41 residents and 46 staff at nursing and assisted living facilities. “We see these are hot spots that we have to continue protecting,” he said.
Seven additional child care centers have confirmed at least one case of the virus, and five staff and five kids are newly positive. In total, 131 centers have at least one case, and 102 staff and 87 kids have tested positive.
Beshear pointedly asked schools earlier this week to delay in-person instruction until late September, but a handful of districts have opted to forge ahead anyway, including the state’s network of Catholic schools and Lexington’s private Sayre School. Meanwhile, school-age kids continue to test positive for the virus across the state, Beshear noted, including in counties whose schools are ignoring his advice.
Public Health Commissioner Steven Stack on Thursday said he supports Beshear’s directive, though he’s “also cognizant of the many trade-offs” that accompany that ask.
In short, “we are at the all-time high,” Stack said. “When the folks from the White House came in and talked about this with us, they were very clear that when [cases] are escalating, we need to take aggressive action.”
Part of that includes tamping down on behaviors and activities that contribute to transmission. Allowing students and teachers to return to the classroom would invariably spread the disease, he said, pointing to other districts around the country that have had to shut back down or quarantine hundreds of exposed students and teachers days after schools reopened.
“I just appeal to our schools that I believe this is a significant risk to the life and health of teachers, students, the parents they come home to and the caregivers,” Beshear said. “Kids can and do spread the virus.”
There are currently 658 people hospitalized with the virus in Kentucky, 140 are in intensive care and 97 are on ventilators. At least 730,362 tests have been administered.
This story was originally published August 13, 2020 at 4:28 PM.
