Kentucky coronavirus deaths top 2,000. Beshear reports 3,895 new cases and 34 deaths.
Gov. Andy Beshear announced 3,895 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday in Kentucky and 34 deaths, lifting the state’s case total to 190,601 and pushing the death toll past 2,000.
Thursday’s death toll makes it the third deadliest day of the pandemic, which means this week boasts the three highest days for coronavirus fatalities: Wednesday brought the most, with 37, and Tuesday the second most, with 35. The death toll has reached 2,014.
Kentucky has now reported more COVID-19 cases in the first three days of December than in May and June combined. Thursday’s tally of cases is the second most reported in a single day.
The rate of Kentuckians testing positive also topped out at another record high of 10.07 percent on Thursday. That means Kentucky is nearing the point of qualifying for its own travel advisory, Beshear noted, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. If a state’s positivity rate hits at least 15 percent, as measured by the university, Kentucky public health officials recommend travelers to those states quarantine for at least a week when they return home.
There are again a record number of coronavirus hospitalizations, with 1,810 people hospitalized (an increase of 42 from Wednesday), and of those, 415 patients are in intensive care and 240 are on ventilators. There are 247 new positives among nursing home residents and 184 among nursing home staff, raising the number of active cases in those places to more than 4,500.
These 11 KY hospitals will get vaccine first
Earlier this week, Beshear said Kentucky should expect to get more than 38,000 initial doses of the two-dose Pfizer coronavirus vaccine by mid-December. Two-thirds of those doses are reserved for nursing home staff and residents, and on Thursday Beshear announced frontline health care workers at 11 medical centers and hospitals will get the remaining 12,675, potentially by December 15. Emergency room staff and those who work with COVID-19-positive patients are expected to be prioritized.
Each of those 11 locations will receive a shipment of 975 doses, except for UK HealthCare in Lexington and Norton Healthcare in Louisville, which will each receive 1,950 doses. The other locations include Pikeville Medical Center; Lourdes Hospital in Paducah; St. Elizabeth Edgewood Hospital; University of Louisville Hospital; the Medical Center in Bowling Green; and Baptist Health locations in Madisonville, Louisville, Corbin and Lexington.
These locations were chosen in part because they have ultra-cold storage capacity, Beshear said. Though “it’s a fairly small amount,” it’s only the first shipment; “Even if you’re not part of this very first shipment, it’s exciting that there is a shipment,” he said.
Allocation of these first doses will fall to the hospitals receiving them. A booster shot, or second dose of the vaccine (both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccine require two shots) will come later.
Lexington reported another single-day high of new coronavirus cases on Thursday, topping 400 for the first time. That record came as health officials brace for a potential case spike in the wake of Thanksgiving, the impact of which is expected to start next week.
Restaurant dining rooms can reopen December 14
Despite the continued escalation of cases, Beshear again said he won’t be renewing his executive order halting all indoor dining at restaurants and bars later this month, meaning those establishments will be able to reopen at 50 percent indoor capacity on December 14.
“Could something crazy happen before then? Potentially. But we don’t see any extension right now [on] closing in-person dining,” Beshear said. But, “we do need a lot better enforcement of the mask mandate moving forward.”
This story was originally published December 3, 2020 at 4:50 PM.
