Kentucky adds 1,988 new COVID-19 cases as state gets first shipments of Moderna vaccine
Gov. Andy Beshear announced 1,988 more cases of COVID-19 and 15 deaths in Kentucky on Monday, the same day the state began receiving its first shipments of the recently approved Moderna vaccine.
The state has seen two weeks of decreasing in the average of new cases, Beshear said. Monday’s cases brought the state total to 244,297 since March.
“With the rest of the country on fire, this is good news,” Beshear said.
The 15 newly reported deaths brought the state total to 2,412. Over 1,500 are hospitalized across the state — 411 of which are in intensive care units and 231 are on ventilators.
Sixteen local health departments across the state received the first 10,800 Moderna vaccines. Hospitals and health departments will get 76,700 vaccines this week alone and frontline workers will be targeted in the initial shipments.
The Moderna vaccine comes after the state began vaccinating Kentuckians early last week with the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, which was approved by the federal government first.
Beshear said the state is receiving over 27,000 Pfizer vaccines this week. That vaccine will continue to go to frontline workers, as well as residents and employees at long-term care facilities, who began to get vaccinated on Monday.
The state government also published a new online dashboard that shows the number of COVID-19 vaccines available and those administered statewide. As of Monday, there have been 7,319 vaccines given in Kentucky, the dashboard shows.
How soon the rest of the population will get vaccinated will depend in part on how fast those medical companies can manufacture more of the vaccine, Beshear said, and when other vaccines from other companies — like Johnson and Johnson and AstraZeneca — will get federal approval.
“The real answer is that we don’t know for sure,” Beshear said.
Beshear also largely praised the latest COVID-19 economic relief bill in Congress — which several outlets have reported is likely to pass. He highlighted the potential $9 billion to states and the CDC for vaccine distribution, increases in funds for both K-12 and higher education institutions and the extension of the eviction moratorium through the end of January. The bill will also provide another round of Paycheck Protection Program loans to small businesses.
“I don’t think it will be enough on the small-business side,” Beshear said. “I’m certainly looking at additional relief that we can provide here in Kentucky to keep many open and to stimulate the economy.”
This story was originally published December 21, 2020 at 4:37 PM.