Kentucky has its first coronavirus death, Beshear says. He was from Bourbon County.
A 66-year-old Bourbon County man with confirmed COVID-19 has died, Gov. Andy Beshear said Monday morning.
A spokeswoman for Baptist Health Lexington, where the man was being treated, said he arrived by ambulance and was admitted for having a stroke. He also had pneumonia and was tested for novel coronavirus by hospital staff after being admitted.
It’s the first death in Kentucky caused, in part, by the viral respiratory illness, Beshear said at a Capitol news conference.
There have been 21 confirmed cases across Kentucky, in Fayette, Jefferson, Harrison, Nelson, Clark, Bourbon and Montgomery counties. The 66-year-old man was the only confirmed case in Bourbon County. At least 254 people have been tested for the virus in Kentucky.
Beshear also said Monday morning that he will be putting out an executive order by the end of the day to close all restaurants and bars to “in-person traffic” until further notice. Certain exceptions will be provided for delivery, drive-thru and curbside pickup services, he said.
It’s the latest in a series of unprecedented directives from the governor to grind day-to-day public interactions to a halt in an effort to stem community spread of the virus, which has so far infected more than 3,600 people across the country and killed at least 69.
“We are to the point now where this is a step we have to take,” Beshear said.
That’s in part because the number of actual COVID-19 cases in Kentucky, like everywhere else, exceeds the number of confirmed cases, Beshear said, and not just because of a lack of testing capacity. At least 80 percent of people who contract the virus will have mild to moderate symptoms — some may remain asymptomatic — decreasing the likelihood for diagnosis and increasing the likelihood for community transmission.
As a way to support the loss of work for service industry staff, Beshear said, he will “waive the waiting period” for unemployment benefits. Under the normal process, people who apply for unemployment insurance typically must wait 13 days before they are approved to apply for benefits. Once they are able to apply, recipients are required to serve a “waiting week” during their first week of eligibility. Recipients do not receive benefits during that mandatory waiting week.
Beshear’s order will eliminate that waiting week for people who lost their jobs because of coronavirus-related workplace decisions, according to the governor’s office.
Beshear also said he would close the State Capitol to all non-essential personnel beginning Tuesday morning. In a plea to all Kentuckians active on social media, where Beshear said a lot of anxiety is promulgated, he asked for individual responsibility.
“I want you, as you think about this coronavirus, to truly internalize that we all have a duty to do everything we can that it takes to beat this,” Beshear said. “I want people to start living their patriotic duty on social media” and “model really good citizenship.”
Beshear asked people to use the hashtags #teamKentucky and #togetherKY when talking about coronavirus on social media platforms.
Kentucky residents can call the state coronavirus hotline — 1-800-722-5725 — for advice about when to seek medical treatment. Those with symptoms of coronavirus — cough, fever and difficulty breathing — are strongly urged to call the hotline or their physician before visiting a doctor.
Visit Kentucky’s coronavirus website, https://chfs.ky.gov/agencies/dph/pages/covid19.aspx, for more guidance about the disease.
This story was originally published March 16, 2020 at 9:16 AM.
