1,514 new Kentucky COVID-19 cases. Beshear says new restrictions possible Wednesday.
Gov. Andy Beshear said further restrictions to slow the spread of COVID-19 might be needed in Kentucky as soon as Wednesday as he announced 1,514 new cases of the novel coronavirus, the second-highest Monday on record.
That dire news came as scientists with the pharmaceutical company Moderna offered another glimmer of hope, announcing their COVID-19 vaccine appears to be 94.5 percent effective. It will be several months, though, before that vaccine and others will be widely available.
“If we can see that finish line, the question is are we going to try our hardest to lose as few people as possible until we get there,” Beshear said. “We need everybody with this new news to buckle down and make sure we’re making good decisions every day.”
Monday’s new cases bring the total number of cases of the surging virus to 139,097. He also announced three new deaths, bringing the death toll to 1,664. Of Kentucky’s 120 counties, 103 are in the red zone, meaning there are more than 25 cases per 100,000 people.
Kentucky’s positivity rate is 8.98 percent, the highest its been since testing was available to the general public. The positivity rate has increased nearly every day in the month of November. A total of 2,421,595 tests have been conducted in Kentucky since the beginning of the pandemic.
“We right now are suffering from avoidable loss,” Beshear said. “Which means we are having loved ones die that we can stop, that we can prevent.”
Beshear offered few details about what restrictions the state might impose Wednesday, but said changes at bars and restaurants are one possibility. Beshear said any new rules would not be as restrictive as his Healthy at Home regulations in the Spring.
For months, Beshear has urged Kentuckians to follow the restrictions already in place, but that has failed to stop the spread.
There are 1,442 Kentuckians in the hospital with the virus, an increase of 309 in the last week. Of those, 360 are in intensive care, an increase of 60 since last Monday. There are still enough beds available in Kentucky hospitals (8,874 were occupied Monday), but Beshear said staffing is “an absolute concern” and that the state is still trying to figure out how many of the available beds are actually staffed.
“If we don’t have enough staff to help someone who’s in a hospital bed, the bed itself doesn’t help,” Beshear said. “And staffing is going to run thin before our number of beds do.”
More restrictions at nursing homes
The focus again has returned to long-term care facilities, as Beshear announced there are 1,598 active cases among nursing home residents and 970 active cases among nursing home staff. Of those residents who are battling the virus, 11 are at the Thompson Hood Veterans Center, where 25 residents have died.
“We shouldn’t be sacrificing our seniors because we don’t want to wear a mask,” Beshear said.
Eric Friedlander, secretary of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, announced that visitation to long-term care facilities will be limited over the holidays and that anyone who leaves a facility will be asked to quarantine when they come back. He also said communal dining and group activities in nursing homes will be further restricted.
Friedlander said the state would create ten “strike-teams” of national guard members to provide non-clinical support at hard-hit nursing homes, including cleaning and disinfecting facilities.
COVID-19 in prisons
The virus also is raging in Kentucky’s prisons, where there have been more than 2,000 cases among inmates and more than 280 cases among staff over the course of this year.
J. Michael Brown, Beshear’s executive cabinet secretary, said more than half of the inmates at Lee Adjustment Center in Lee County have tested positive for the virus, with 474 positive cases (380 of which are active). They still haven’t tested the whole facility.
Beshear again urged people to wear a mask and limit their contacts to stop the spread of the virus.
“Our level of compassion has to exceed our level of denial or rationalization,” Beshear said.
This story was originally published November 16, 2020 at 4:44 PM.
