688 new Kentucky COVID-19 cases and 10 deaths. Beshear releasing 646 more inmates.
Gov. Andy Beshear announced 688 new cases of COVID-19 in Kentucky on Tuesday, increasing the case total to 44,568, and 10 more people with the coronavirus have died.
Beshear also announced that he has signed orders commuting the sentences of 646 more state inmates. Of those, 121 are medically vulnerable to COVID-19 and 525 are less than six months from completing their sentences. Earlier this year, Beshear commuted the sentences of about 1,200 inmates to lessen the spread of coronavirus in prisons and jails. Inmates only qualify for commutations if they’ve committed non-violent, non-sexual offenses.
Overall, the state’s number of inmates has dropped by more than 4,500 inmates since last August. Executive Cabinet Secretary J. Michael Brown said there were 24,200 inmates in the state’s prison system last Aug. 26, compared with today’s 19,689.
“Believe me, that’s good for everyone in the commonwealth,” Brown said.
After hovering below 5 percent for a few days, the state’s infection rate has crept back up to 5.07 percent. Of Tuesday’s new cases, 96 are in kids and teenagers ages 18 and younger.
“This is one of the reasons that I still don’t believe it’s safe for schools to reopen before Sept. 28,” Beshear said.
Now that many districts are allowing some high school sports teams to begin practice, Beshear told parents to get their kids tested if they’re student athletes. “With kids going back to sports, go get your kid tested,” he said. “This is a highly contagious, aggressively spreading virus.”
Seven more students tested positive in K-12 schools on Tuesday, meaning at least 57 school-age kids currently have the virus. Four more faculty and staff have tested positive, for a total of 25.
Since the beginning of the summer, 147 students and 35 staff across 70 schools have tested positive. At the state’s colleges and universities, there are at least 236 active infections in students and 15 cases in faculty and staff.
Most of the deaths on Tuesday were long-term care residents, the governor said, putting the death toll at 895. But the state is increasingly seeing more deaths in the community, he said, echoing the surge of cases the state saw last month. “It is a myth to say this is only harming people in long-term care facilities. It’s an absolute myth,” Beshear said.
Two more child care centers have reported at least one case of the virus, including one more staff person and one more child. At nursing and assisted living homes, 13 residents and 16 staff are newly positive.
There are currently 593 people hospitalized with the virus, 151 in intensive care and 81 on ventilators. At least 831,302 tests have been administered.
‘Last Mile’ internet service for low-income families
As most K-12 schools prepare to start their years with heavy reliance on virtual learning, it has highlighted the lack of reliable internet access for some families. On Tuesday, Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman said the state was investing $8 million to financially support families who struggle to afford that access, and to ensure reliable broadband for every K-12 student in the state.
An estimated 5 percent of the state’s school-age population — 32,00 kids — don’t have reliable internet access, she said. The “Last Mile” internet service would allow eligible families access to high-speed internet for $10 a month for the next two or three school years, Coleman said. The goal is to choose internet providers by Sept. 15.
Beshear acknowledged it was a “short-term fix.” But with the emphasis this school year on virtual learning, “the question is right now how quickly can we get people on,” he said.
This story will be updated.
This story was originally published August 25, 2020 at 4:46 PM.
