KY reports 58 COVID-19 deaths as Beshear announces 4 more regional vaccination sites
Kentucky is gaining four more high-volume vaccination sites, Gov. Andy Beshear said Thursday, as he announced 2,500 new cases of COVID-19 and 58 additional virus-related deaths.
Thursday’s number of announced deaths ties it with Jan. 21 for the second-deadliest day of the pandemic. The death toll has reached 3,921.
Other coronavirus metrics continue to show positive trends, Beshear noted in a live update, “but our number of deaths continues to be high, difficult and tragic.”
In an effort to ease general anxiety about getting a coronavirus vaccine, close to 50 faith leaders were publicly immunized in the Capitol Rotunda earlier on Thursday. Afterward, some planted flags on the statehouse lawn to commemorate those who have died from the virus.
The statewide positivity rate has dropped slightly again to 8.37 percent. The state is on track to have its fourth week of declining cases, the governor said. Kentucky has confirmed a total of 372,012 cases.
In long-term care facilities, where numbers of new cases continue to drop, Beshear announced 24 new cases among residents and 20 new cases among staff. There are 658 total active cases in those populations.
There are 1,340 people hospitalized with COVID-19, 368 people in intensive care and 171 on a ventilator.
Two of the new regional sites Beshear announced Thursday are in partnership with Kroger, and will be located at the Kentucky Convention Center in Covington and at Greenwood Mall in Bowling Green. Both will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, beginning Feb. 9. The first Kroger regional vaccination site opened earlier this week at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington.
Vaccine registration for those sites goes live at 5 p.m. Thursday. Appointments can only be made seven days in advance. To schedule an appointment visit kroger.com/covidvaccine, or call 866-211-5320.
The other sites, which have abbreviated hours, are at the CFSB Arena at Murray State University and the T.J. Health Pavilion in Glasgow.
Murray will be open from 8 a.m. to noon on Wednesday, Feb. 10, and again on Wednesday, Feb. 17. For more information about how to sign up at the Murray site, visit callowayhealth.org, or call 270-753-3381.
For vaccinations at the Glasgow site, “Days and hours are still being determined,” Beshear said, urging people to visit tjregionalhealth.org, or call 270-659-1010.
In addition to these four sites, as many as 150 pharmacies across the state will receive small shipments of vaccine from the federal government starting next week, amounting to 13,500 additional doses, Kentucky Public Health Commissioner Steven Stack said. Between 80 and 100 Walgreens pharmacy locations and 45-50 independent pharmacies are expected to get roughly 100 doses each, though the plan has yet to be finalized.
“We are told that as soon as next Thursday, they may be able to start operating,” Stack said.
Each week through the end of February, the state will send all counties a small allotment of doses, equivalent to 100 doses per 1 percent of the population served. Those doses will be doled out by the local health department, Stack said. Each county will get a minimum of 100 doses (one shipment) on Feb. 8, 15 and 22nd. Second doses will arrive four weeks later.
“The quantities are insufficient, but it is still incremental progress,” he said.
This week, the state received at least 68,475 doses. Forty-two percent have been administered in the last two-and-a-half days, Beshear said, reiterating that the state cannot vaccinate at its full capacity because of limited supply.
Close to 450,00 people have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine in Kentucky — roughly 10 percent of the state’s population, Stack said.
The state is collectively only inoculating people in priority groups 1A and 1B, with occasional spillover of people in 1C. The bulk of health care personnel have received at least one dose, as have first responders and K-12 personnel. Beshear has asked vaccine providers to prioritize people ages 70 and older for the foreseeable future.
As the state receives more shipment of the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines and more immunization sites come online, Stack asked people who don’t yet qualify to wait their turn.
“If you are not in the highest phases, please don’t try to falsify your information to get in early, please don’t jump the line,” Stack said.
This story was originally published February 4, 2021 at 4:38 PM.
