Beshear commemorate lives lost on five-year anniversary of first COVID-19 case in Kentucky
Universal masking. Contact tracing. Infection spikes and plateaus. Personal protective equipment shortages. Social distancing. Distillery-made hand sanitizer. Beers with Beshear. “We can’t be doing that” memes. Drive-thru testing. Green porch lights to remember the more than 20,450 people who died.
Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, flanked by Public Health Department Commissioner Steven Stack, reflected on the alternate reality Kentuckians lived under during the COVID-19 pandemic Thursday — the five-year anniversary of the first reported case, confirmed in Cynthiana on March 6, 2020.
“I’d like to encourage us to remember those we lost (and) to remember our loved ones, to celebrate their lives, to support each other as we continue to adapt to our lives without them,” Stack said during a ceremony in the Kentucky Capitol rotunda.
Though many across the state still feel the lingering impacts of the pandemic, Stack also encouraged residents to focus on the bright spots “even in that darkness.”
“Remember just how profoundly our lives changed — remember the quiet streets? When there was no delay getting anywhere,” he said. “Reminding everyone, ‘You’re still on mute.’ Restaurant take-out meals. Overwhelmed hospitals and disrupted health care. And anxieties, worries and fears that we all shared.”
Beshear said he remembers the afternoon on the day Kentucky confirmed its first case of the virus.
It was an early spring day, and he’d left the Capitol a little early.
“I’d gotten home, I planned to spend time with Will, Lila and Britainy, and that’s when I got the call that we had our first case,” Beshear said. “It changed everything. In a matter of hours we were fully immersed in the battle of our lifetime. Nothing could prepare me for the initial moderate estimates I got about the likely loss of life that we would all live through.”
Beshear added: “I knew governor would be tough, but I could not have known the level of death, of despair and of sadness that we would all bear and that we carry with us still today.”
Stack, too, emphasized the unity and camaraderie borne out of the pandemic as a lesson to carry forward.
“Remember and be mindful of how we treated each other and how special Kentucky was as we came together to be kind, caring and compassionate,” he said. “When we treat each other with dignity and respect, there’s very little we can’t overcome.”
Beshear said there are two legacies from this pandemic: the incredible loss of life — “Covid’s long shadow touched all our lives” — “But while we were going through the darkest of times, we saw the brightest of lights,” in health care providers, educators, frontline workers and public safety officials who put their lives on the line for the sake of others.
The governor also paid tribute to the late Virginia Moore, the American Sign Language interpreter who was a fixture in his 5 p.m. briefings to provide updates on the state of the virus. Moore died in 2023 from complications of a brief illness.
“She was and is — and she’s watching us — a fierce compassionate advocate for her community,” he said.
Beshear said the Capitol dome would be lit green Thursday night to commemorate the virus’ lasting impacts on the commonwealth and the lives lost.
“My faith tells me that while the body is mortal, the soul is eternal. And we will see the 20,400 of our friends we lost to this,” he said, tearing up. “Maybe the final legacy that Covid should teach us is just that — that we’re not alone.”
