2,120 new KY COVID-19 cases. Don’t gather for Thanksgiving, Beshear pleads.
As Kentucky’s COVID-19 escalation continues, Gov. Andy Beshear announced 2,120 new cases on Tuesday, lifting the state case total to 124,646.
The latest daily increase is the most new cases ever reported on a Tuesday, Beshear said, and the fifth-highest day overall.
“Again, this thing is spreading, it is spreading fast, and we need your help,” the governor said. He also announced 14 additional deaths, raising the death toll to 1,590.
The positivity rate is nearing 8 percent, at 7.68 percent, which again shows “this virus is growing,” he said.
There’s a new outbreak at the Lee Adjustment Center, a private prison in Beattyville, where at least 94 inmates and nine staff have so far tested positive, Beshear said. The state is also monitoring a potential outbreak among a group of Kentucky State Police training academy cadets. At least one cadet has tested positive and six others are exhibiting coronavirus symptoms.
There are 1,189 people across Kentucky hospitalized with the virus — 56 more people than Monday. Of those, 286 are in intensive care.
Thanksgiving COVID-19 guidance
As the holiday season approaches, friends and family should plan on eating their Thanksgiving Day meals separately this year; any sharing should happen only among people who already live in the same house, state officials said.
“Avoid in-person gatherings with people who do not live in your household,” Kentucky Public Health Commissioner Steven Stack said Tuesday, echoing guidance in the latest weekly White House report.
“I know this is a sacrifice,” he said. But mixing households, sharing food and drinks, laughing and shouting, especially indoors, “is a perfect recipe to spread this virus,” Stack said. “Please, 2020 has been a mess. It’s been a mess for all of us. As you plan your holidays this fall, don’t do the things that make us at highest risk.”
Beshear warned against get-togethers that include elderly family members with whom “you may have only five or 10 Thanksgivings left with. If we’re not careful this year, you might not have more than one,” he said.
Stack and Beshear also asked people to avoid holiday shopping in crowded stores, especially on notoriously heavy shopping days like Black Friday.
In K-12 schools, 414 students and teachers are newly positive, according to the school coronavirus dashboard. At least 1,744 students and 306 staff are in quarantine this week from virus exposure. Last week, at least 6,275 students and teachers were quarantined.
In nursing homes, there are 97 new infections among residents and 75 among staff. Those facilities right now are monitoring 1,987 total active cases.
Lexington on Tuesday reported another 183 new cases of the virus — the city’s second-highest daily increase. The city’s neighborhood coronavirus testing program will be at 1200 Red Mile Road from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday through Sunday, according to the mayor’s office.
This story was originally published November 10, 2020 at 4:41 PM.
