1,330 new KY coronavirus cases and 17 deaths. 105 on a ventilator, 800 hospitalized.
Gov. Andy Beshear reported 1,330 new cases of COVID-19 in Kentucky on Thursday, making it the fourth-highest single-day increase, and 17 additional virus-related deaths.
“Again, more cases than we ever wanted,” Beshear said. “We can’t be having more than 1,000 cases every day.” Kentucky has now confirmed 92,299 cases of the virus and 1,380 deaths.
“The difference between now and March is we know how to stop this virus,” he said. “The question is how we increase our compliance,” he said, when it comes to convincing more people to wear a mask, socially distance and wash their hands.
With no sign of Kentucky’s escalation slowing down, the governor said the state is “not just planning for how to deal with the surge, but we’re going to be looking for additional recommendations we can make to communities” on how to better control virus spread. Beshear also said his office plans to coordinate with hospitals about patient overflow.
Beshear in recent weeks has explicitly asked local leaders to crack down on enforcing the state’s mask mandate in their communities. His executive order allows local governments and their health departments to levy fines on violators, though many have so far tried to avoid issuing those citations. General enforcement, Beshear said Thursday, has been “uneven in some areas, but we are seeing a stronger push.”
Forty-eight Kentucky counties are in the “red zone,” meaning community spread is considered “critical” and in-person activities like school and high-school sports should be temporarily suspended, the governor has recommended.
The positivity rate is up to 5.3 percent, the highest since Aug. 19, Beshear said. Hospitalizations continue to climb; 800 people are in the hospital with the coronavirus, 214 are in intensive care — an increase of 11 since Wednesday — and 105 are on ventilators, up from 94 Wednesday.
Make a plan for Halloween
With Halloween a little more than a week away, Beshear asked parents of children who plan to Trick or Treat to “make a plan,” to ensure they can do it safely. That means everyone needs to wear face masks under their costumes, and people should stick with their family, only, he said.
“I know kids and parents like to be in larger groups as the kids run through the neighborhood. That is not safe this year,” Beshear said. He also asked people not to hand candy out individually, but to avoid contact by spreading it out on their porch, driveway or a table, to make it easy for children to touch only one treat at a time.
“Those are some really small sacrifices that we can make to keep kids safe,” he said, adding that adults should “not have Halloween parties at all.”
According to the state’s K-12 school coronavirus dashboard, 73 students and 31 staff have tested positive in the last day. Another 585 students and 85 staff entered quarantine from exposure to the virus. So far this week, 278 students and 157 staff have tested positive, and 2,455 students and 409 staff have been quarantined. At colleges and universities, 33 students are newly positive.
In nursing homes, 69 residents and 56 nursing home staff have tested positive in the last day, Beshear said, bringing the total number of active cases in those facilities to 1,527.
Beshear again gave his update from the governor’s mansion. He and his family tested negative for the virus for the fourth time on Thursday, his wife Britainy said at the top of the daily update. The Beshears went into quarantine almost two weeks ago, after a member of their security detail tested positive.
This story was originally published October 22, 2020 at 4:37 PM.
