Kentucky’s COVID-19 escalation continues. 1,319 new cases and 4 deaths.
For the third day in a row Gov. Andy Beshear announced more than 1,000 new cases of COVID-19 in Kentucky, with Friday’s 1,319 cases bringing the state’s total to 85,506. He also announced four new deaths, bringing the death toll to 1,300.
Beshear implored people to follow public health guidelines in a news release.
“My faith tells me I have to treat my neighbor as myself, and that means I have to protect my neighbor, whether I know them or not,” Beshear said. “My rights stop where they could be harmed. Let’s do the right thing and let’s follow our values.”
There have been 6,061 coronavirus cases since Sunday, already a record for a single week when subtracting out the 1,472 backlogged cases reported from Fayette County last week.
Although the number of new cases continues to rise, the number of people in the hospital with the virus fell off slightly to 687. The official rate of positive cases dropped slightly to 4.7 percent. There are 187 Kentuckians in intensive care, five less than Thursday.
Beshear’s office noted that there has been an outbreak at Little Sandy Correction Complex, in Elliott County, where 17 inmates and two staff members have tested positive. The state will begin testing everyone in the facility to help stem the outbreak, putting in place measures they used at Green River Correctional Complex earlier this year.
There are 902 nursing home residents with COVID-19 and 619 nursing home staffers. At least 784 nursing home residents have died from COVID-19, which is 60 percent of all COVID-19 related deaths.
In K-12 schools, there are 414 students who have tested positive for COVID-19 in the past 14 days and 221 staff members. There are 31 cases of COVID-19 among students in Fayette County Schools, according to the state dashboard. There have been 98 cases among University of Kentucky students in the past 14 days and no current cases among UK staff.
Beshear and his family have tested negative for the virus again but are still quarantining following exposure last weekend to a member of his security team who tested positive. The state has not said when they will be released, just that they are following the guidelines of the Department for Public Health.
This story was originally published October 16, 2020 at 5:12 PM.
