1,821 new Kentucky COVID-19 cases and 19 deaths. Restrictions urged in 68 counties.
Gov. Andy Beshear announced 1,821 new cases of COVID-19 in Kentucky on Thursday, continuing the state’s rapid escalation and bringing the total number of cases to 103,305.
Thursday’s daily total is the third-highest single-day increase of new infections, he said. Wednesday brought the second-highest daily increase, with 1,864, and Tuesday’s total of 1,786 was the fourth-highest.
“This is a type of outbreak where we can’t deny our way out of it,” Beshear said. “We can’t rationalize our way out of it. We can’t try to find excuses for not following the guidance. It is that present.”
He also announced 19 additional deaths attributable to the virus, raising the death toll at 1,461.
The positivity rate is hovering at 6.04 percent, and a record 969 people are hospitalized with the virus — 42 more people than were hospitalized Wednesday. Of those, 234 are in intensive care and 120 are on ventilators — an increase of 10 in the last day.
In nursing homes, there are 71 new infections among residents and 42 among nursing home staff, bringing the total number of active infections in long-term care facilities to 1,571.
In K-12 schools Wednesday, another 89 students and 32 staff tested positive, according to the school coronavirus dashboard, updated each day by individual districts. So far this week, 3,134 students are quarantining because of exposure, 734 of whom began quarantining in the last day. At least 451 staff are quarantined.
Kentucky has 120 counties and 68 are in the “red zone,” including Fayette, Jessamine and Scott counties, according to the state health department’s color-coded map. Next week, school districts in those counties should temporarily move to virtual learning, only; employees should work remotely when possible; residents should only venture into public for critical needs; and group gatherings or events of any kind should be postponed.
“If you are in one of those 68 counties, and most Kentuckians are, we need you to reduce your contacts as much as possible Monday through Sunday of next week,” Beshear said. “Don’t go out unless you have to,” try to do curbside shopping rather than in-person, and avoid gathering with other people, because “it’s unsafe right now.”
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Halloween guidance
The latest coronavirus surge will undoubtedly crimp how Kentuckians choose to participate in Halloween this weekend. Beshear reiterated his call for families to Trick or Treat safely. That means only do so in your own neighborhood with your own family; practice social distancing; wear a mask under your costume mask; and for people providing candy, avoid hand-to-hand contact with Trick or Treaters, instead leaving individually wrapped candy on a table in the porch or driveway.
“If families follow this guidance, we think that Trick or Treating can be safe. If you don’t, it is not,” Beshear said. There is no safe way for adults to go to Halloween parties, he said, which is why they should be avoided entirely.
Unemployment update
There are still roughly 800 unresolved unemployment insurance claims leftover from March, Kentucky Labor Cabinet attorney Amy Cubbage said.
Cubbage said the department has fielded a lot of complaints and questions in recent weeks about people who were approved for pandemic unemployment assistance and received those payments, only to be told later by the state they needed to give that assistance back because they didn’t actually qualify. This discrepancy was first publicized earlier this month by the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting.
Beshear has blamed a shift in federal policy for the inconsistency. Cubbage echoed a similar sentiment on Thursday, adding that it was also the result of “our mistaken interpretation” of the policy.
“This is a federal program, and we are bound by the rules,” she said. “So, we were required to shift gears, to start denying those, and then, on the orders of the [U.S.] Department of Labor, start writing over-payment notices.”
Cubbage said the state recently asked for “some flexibility” from the federal department to waive some of those over-payment requests, saying she knows it is a “huge burden on claimants.”
Cubbage also warned those who have applied for or are receiving unemployment benefits to watch out for scammers. Any email that looks to be from the Department of Labor that asks a recipients to click on a link is fake, she said.
“Please do not click on the link in that email,” she said. “It is meant to steal your identity.”
This story was originally published October 29, 2020 at 4:37 PM.
