Rate of positive COVID tests down again in KY. $400M essential worker bonus proposed.
Calling it a “ray of hope,” Kentucky’s statewide rate of people testing positive for COVID-19 has dropped for three consecutive weeks, Gov. Andy Beshear said Monday as he announced 1,239 new cases of the virus.
The rate, a leading indicator, had dropped to 9.31% on Monday, down from 10.55% a week ago. Week-over-week case volumes have dropped for two consecutive weeks, and hospitalizations have been decreasing for almost a month.
“We’re on the right trajectory, which is a downward trajectory, but that doesn’t mean our hospitals aren’t still overwhelmed,” Beshear said in a news conference from the state Capitol. “Relief that we hoped would come from this downward movement has not hit our hospitals, yet.”
Though the number of people hospitalized with the virus dropped by 15% in the last week, the sheer volume of largely unvaccinated patients still filling inpatient beds has not brought reprieve to the strained health care system; 65% of the state’s 96 acute care hospitals are still contending with critical staffing shortages, Beshear said.
The number of people with COVID-19 in intensive care units increased by 3% in the last seven days. On Monday, 1,668 people were hospitalized, 496 were in an ICU, and 332 were on a ventilator. Statewide, 118 adult ICU beds are open in Kentucky.
Deaths from the virus, a lagging indicator, have yet to drop off markedly. While, “overall, today’s report [is] positive in the trends, what is still really hard is the loss of life we continue to see and that loss being preventable,” Beshear said, announcing another 26 deaths.
Over the weekend, the state reported another 3,712 new cases and 76 deaths — 54 on Saturday and 22 on Sunday. Just over 62% of the state population is fully vaccinated and 74% of adults are at least partially vaccinated. Roughly 17,100 shots were administered statewide over the weekend.
$400M ‘essential worker’ bonus proposed
The governor said he plans to send an “overall framework” to members of the General Assembly in the next week suggesting they earmark $400 million in American Rescue Plan Act money to give “essential worker bonuses” to people who have worked frontline jobs throughout the pandemic. Beshear said the federal funds wouldn’t be available until the 2022, so lawmakers can consider the plan when they convene in January.
Republican lawmakers recently blasted the governor for not guiding them in a special session last month to appropriate federal pandemic money to immediately aid with retention of health care workers. Beshear pushed back on that notion Monday and broadened who would be eligible to receive a pandemic bonus.
“As opposed to providing bonuses through other means right now and having people quit or leave after they got it and go onto something else ...” he said, “the idea is that those dollars are there for everybody who sticks it out for two full years is something I think all of us Kentuckians should support.”
Though Beshear said he hopes to convene a work group to work through specifics, including who qualifies as an essential worker, those jobs according to the CDC include health care workers, people who work in grocery stores, restaurants, bars, pharmacies and drug stores, as well as people who work in residential care facilities.
This story was originally published October 4, 2021 at 4:48 PM.
