COVID-19 growth ‘appears to be slowing’ in Kentucky. 3,114 new cases and 20 deaths.
Gov. Andy Beshear announced 3,114 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday in Kentucky and 20 additional deaths, lifting the state’s case total to 205,668 and the death toll to 2,102.
While Tuesday’s tally is still “more [cases] than we want,” Beshear said it’s more than 1,000 fewer cases than were reported last Tuesday, which is “good news.” He also said “again, the growth in cases appears to be slowing, and we hope that holds through the rest of the week.”
The rate of Kentuckians testing positive dropped slightly from Monday, to 9.56 percent. The state has administered more than three million tests.
There are currently 1,760 people hospitalized with COVID-19 in Kentucky (60 more than on Monday), and of those, 416 are in intensive care (up six), and 207 are on ventilators (three fewer).
On Monday, Beshear announced Kentucky could potentially receive close to 150,000 doses of Pfizer and Moderna coronavirus vaccines by the end of the year, and on Tuesday he said he was dedicated to divvying those shipments in such a way where all of Kentucky’s acute care hospitals will receive at least initial doses in December, though he didn’t offer specifics.
Eleven hospitals are slated to get early doses of the Pfizer vaccine next week. The remaining 85 acute care hospitals, he said, could receive doses of the Moderna vaccine as early as the week of Christmas.
“We’re going to get as much of this vaccine as quickly as we can,” he said. “To you frontline health care workers working in these acute hospitals, we want to provide you help as soon as possible.”
In addition to frontline health care workers at Kentucky hospitals, the state’s tiered vaccine distribution plan shows residents and staff in nursing homes gaining access to a vaccine before others, including those in assisted living facilities, for example. Those in other congregate settings, such as prisoners, “are not in the top several groups of priority,” but jail and prison staff are, Beshear said. By vaccinating that staff population, “hopefully we can lessen the spread in those facilities.”
Hospital capacity strained in some regions
While Kentucky is poised to receive early shipments of a vaccine, hospitals continue to deal with rising numbers of coronavirus patients. Citing new information from his office, Beshear said intensive care unit beds are filled at or beyond 90 percent in much of Southern and Eastern Kentucky.
Anything over 80 percent is worrisome, he said. In Northern Kentucky, regular hospital inpatient beds are also in short supply, with nearly 88 percent full.
Current projections on ventilator capacity, though, bode well: “We believe we are going to have enough ventilators,” he said.
Coronavirus-related hospitalizations have also been on the rise for weeks in Lexington, where on Tuesday that amount topped out at 97 — a daily record. To compare, 94 Lexington residents were admitted to hospitals last week with COVID-19, which was in and of itself a record. The total number of people hospitalized with coronavirus at hospitals in the city, Lexington residents included, is closer to 230, 17 of which were new Tuesday morning.
In the Central Kentucky region that includes Lexington, hospital inpatient beds are 74 percent full and ICU beds are 72 percent occupied.
AMA supports Beshear’s school closure
Earlier on Tuesday, in a signal of support for the governor’s steps to suspend most in-person classes for K-12 public and private schools until Jan. 3 — a move currently being challenged in court by Attorney General Daniel Cameron and 17 private Christian schools — the American Medical Association filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court supporting Beshear’s decision.
Beshear quoted from the brief during his afternoon update, which read, “the public health order at issue in this case, which temporarily ordered the closure of all Kentucky schools . . . was based on sound scientific considerations” and “solid medical reasoning.”
Beshear said he expects to have “options for in-person learning” that allow for a mass return to the classroom on Jan. 4, even for “red zone” counties, adding, “We’ll work to have that guidance out as early as next week.”
This story was originally published December 8, 2020 at 4:34 PM.
