KY COVID death toll surpasses 3,000. Kroger to offer drive-thru vaccines next month.
Kentucky will partner with Kroger to ramp up its distribution of coronavirus vaccines starting next month, Gov. Andy Beshear said Thursday, as he announced 4,084 new cases of COVID-19 and 51 more virus-related deaths.
Thursday is the third-most fatal day of the pandemic, bringing the state’s death toll to 3,042.
“We are suffering more casualties than in most wars we’ve ever fought,” Beshear said. “Let’s treat it like it.”
Through its partnership with the state, Kroger will set up a series of “high-volume drive-thru vaccination centers” across different regions of Kentucky that, once they open the week of February 1st, will be accessible to anyone in the top three priority groups, including essential workers, anyone age 60 and older, and anyone over the age of 16 with certain health issues.
Beshear said he expects the partnership to radically expand the state’s ability to get doses of the vaccine out to residents quickly, especially as hundreds of thousands more people become eligible for their first dose in the coming weeks.
These centers will be supplemented by other local groups also providing vaccines, such as health care providers and local health departments.
People will be able to begin scheduling appointments at the Kroger sites on January 28th. Beshear didn’t immediately say how many drive-thru sites there will pop up around the state, but said it’ll be a “sufficient” number. The number of sites and their location, along with a website and a hotline for people to call with questions and schedule appointments, will come later this month. People will not have to necessarily schedule an appointment at the site in their region, he said.
Jim Gray, secretary of the state’s Transportation Cabinet and former Lexington mayor, will oversee the partnership with Kroger.
“This project announced today will get the vaccine in every arm that wants it as quickly and safely as possible,” Gray said.
Beshear said he expects to complete the first round of vaccinations for all K-12 personnel in the state by the end of the first week in February, just as these sites open.
Kentucky has sped up its overall distribution in the last month (last week, the number of doses given out was nearly double the week before), but the state still has only administered 63 percent of the 324,650 doses it has received.
The state is only responsible for administering a portion of the doses that arrive each week. Kentucky doesn’t have control, for instance, over how quickly the federally-contracted CVS Health and Walgreens dole out doses to residents and staff in long-term care facilities. Immunization of that population continues to be slow-going — only 29 percent of the 98,475 doses received for that group have been given out. Beshear on Thursday said it “needs to go faster.”
At those facilities, there are new positive cases among 64 residents and 32 staff, bringing their total number of active cases to 1,642. A total of 28,977 doses of the vaccine have so far been administered to staff and residents. Last week, Walgreens vaccinated 3,512 residents and 2,059 staff, and CVS immunized 2,973 residents and 2,432 staff.
The positivity rate is at 12.34 percent. There are 1,661 people hospitalized with coronavirus (41 fewer people than on Wednesday), 409 patients in intensive care (six more), and 196 on a ventilator (29 fewer).
With threats of violence looming over the U.S. Capitol next week for the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden, Beshear said he is sending 270 state National Guard personnel to help guard the nation’s capital.
“It is our duty to ensure that peaceful transition of power occurs, and to stand up to domestic terror when we see it,” he said.
Beshear has also activated the Kentucky National Guard to “assist here in Frankfort for any planned acts of terror.”
This story was originally published January 14, 2021 at 4:29 PM.
