‘Still not out of the woods,’ Beshear says, but coronavirus cases continue to decline
Gov. Andy Beshear announced 1,180 new cases of COVID-19 in Kentucky on Friday, along with 30 additional deaths attributable to the virus, lifting the death toll to 4,600 and the state’s total number of confirmed cases to 402,926.
Beshear remarked on the state’s decline of overall cases in a brief written update, saying, “We’re still not out of the woods with this horrible virus, but every week we’re taking another step forward in our fight against it.”
The rate of Kentuckians testing positive fell again on Friday to 5.52 percent, ending another week of declining rates. At least 655,275 people in the state have received their first dose of a coronavirus vaccine — an increase of 8,439 from Thursday.
In long-term care facilities, there are new cases of the virus among nine residents and 11 staff, bringing their total number of combined active cases to 329. In K-12 schools, at least 506 students and 86 staff tested positive this week, while 1,185 students and 129 staff were in quarantine, according to the Kentucky Department for Public Health’s coronavirus dashboard.
Of Kentucky’s 120 counties, 34 are in the “red zone,” where community spread is still at a critical level.
There are 818 people hospitalized with the virus (25 fewer than Thursday), 218 in intensive care (two fewer), and 105 on a ventilator (17 fewer) as of Friday.
This story was originally published February 26, 2021 at 6:07 PM.
