406 new Kentucky coronavirus cases and 1 death. More help for unemployed sought.
Gov. Andy Beshear announced 406 new cases of COVID-19 Monday, bringing the state’s total to 61,917. He also announced one new death, for a total of 1,112 COVID-19 related deaths in Kentucky.
There are 474 Kentuckians in the hospital with the coronavirus, 108 of whom are in intensive care. The official rate of positive tests remained below 4 percent at 3.77 percent.
“This is one of our longest times under four percent that we’ve ever had since we went over it,” Beshear said. The official positivity rate dropped below 4 percent last Tuesday.
Beshear said it will be a challenge to keep the rate low as more K-12 schools start in-person classes next week, saying “it’s going to be hard to keep it there, but that’s the work we have to do.”
At least 355 students at K-12 schools have active cases of COVID-19 and there are 167 active cases among staff members. Fayette County has 37 active cases of COVID-19, an increase of 11 since Friday.
Beshear said if a county is “orange” on Kentucky’s incidence-rate map (10 to 25 cases per 100,000 people) he would suggest school officials consider a hybrid model of in-person and online classes. If a county is in the “yellow” (1 to 10 cases per 100,000 people), he said they might consider a hybrid model or an in-person model. If they’re “green” (less than one case per 100,000 people) in-person classes seem appropriate, he said.
Fayette County is in the “orange,” currently at 23.3 cases per 100,000 residents and on the verge of joining six other Kentucky counties in the “red,” which is 25 or more cases per 100,000 residents. Counties in the red include Knott, Leslie, Estill, Green, Caldwell and Union.
There have been 11 COVID-related deaths in nursing homes since Saturday, for a total of 623 nursing home-related COVID-19 deaths. There are 558 active cases among nursing home residents and 402 active cases among nursing home staff.
The state is lowering restrictions on visitation at nursing homes, loosening the number of days a nursing home has to go without a case before allowing visitors from 28 days to 14 days, said Eric Friedlander, the secretary of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services.
Friedlander also said that visitors will be able to bring a person’s pet into the nursing home.
The state will use the same color-coded map to determine how often residents and staff at long-term care facilities are tested. In “red” counties nursing homes will be tested twice a week. For orange, nursing homes will be tested weekly and for yellow and green counties, they will be tested every other week.
At least 121 more students at Kentucky colleges and universities have tested positive for the virus and four more colleges and universities have reported one or more cases. There are 1,100 active cases among students at colleges and universities, including 665 at the University of Kentucky.
The state submitted an application to the federal government Monday to receive an additional $400 a week for people who collected unemployment insurance during the weeks of August 22, August 29 and September 5. The state already provided the supplemental payment for the three weeks prior to August 22.
Beshear said he will make an announcement on precautions needed for Halloween later this week.
This story was originally published September 21, 2020 at 4:45 PM.
