More than 700,000 Kentuckians have gotten a dose of COVID-19 vaccine. 19 new deaths.
Spread of COVID-19 continued to slow across Kentucky on Tuesday as Gov. Andy Beshear announced 1,080 new cases and 19 deaths attributable to the virus.
The daily increase of new coronavirus cases is the lowest on a Tuesday in at least a month, he said.
As the number of new cases continues its week-over-week decline, and the positivity rate trends downward — 4.76 percent on Tuesday, down from 4.84 percent on Monday — Beshear emphasized the need for Kentuckians to get vaccinated.
He pointed to the marked reduction of new infections in nursing homes as proof that vaccines work. On Tuesday there were just seven new positives among residents and four staff cases, bringing their total number of active cases to 314.
“These numbers are so much lower than we are used to,” the governor said in a live update. “This should show you what it would mean when we can get everyone vaccinated and the significant impact we can make on pushing back on this virus.”
Nineteen of Kentucky’s 120 counties remain in the “red,” where spread is considered at the worst level. Coronavirus-related hospitalizations have dropped for eight days straight. There are 684 people hospitalized with COVID-19 (the fewest since October 16), while 178 are in intensive care and 82 are on a ventilator.
At least 711,559 people statewide have received at least their first dose of a coronavirus vaccine. Beshear said he expects Kentucky’s weekly allocation of doses from the federal government to increase again beginning next week, by about 8,000 doses.
With even more doses promised from Johnson & Johnson (36,500 this week, alone), the state is on track to administer close to 700,000 doses this month — double the doses administered in December, January and February combined, Beshear said. In the final week of February, the state injected first doses into 112,428 Kentuckians — the most the state has given out in a week but well under the 152,710 first doses it received last week.
“If it’s been tough for you to get an appointment, it’s going to get a whole lot easier as we move forward,” he said. Greater vaccine supply “will solve so many of the challenges we face.”
On Monday, Beshear gave the go-ahead for certain businesses like bars, restaurants, fitness centers and barbershops to increase indoor capacity from 50 percent to 60 percent. Churches will be recommended, but not required, to heed the same capacity maximum. Masks will still be mandated in these spaces, as is six feet of social distancing. This announcement comes on the heels of seven consecutive weeks of declining coronavirus cases. Kentucky has seen a 72 percent reduction in new cases since the height of the state’s post-holiday surge in mid January.
The state will gradually loosen restrictions if people follow public health guidance in these places, and as long as coronavirus metrics continue to improve, though Beshear didn’t say when, specifically.
“It won’t be the last time we let some air out of the balloon, as long as we see compliance,” he said.
This story was originally published March 2, 2021 at 4:34 PM.
