Virus cases for week set a record; new surge feared from holiday
By Al Cross
Kentucky Health News As Kentucky marked six months of the covid-19 pandemic, it set a new record for weekly cases of the novel coronavirus.
“The first positive case of covid-19 in the commonwealth was announced six months ago today, in Harrison County,” Gov. Andy Beshear said in a press release. “This week we recorded 4,742 new coronavirus cases. Last week we had 4,503. That means we’ve set a record for the number of weekly new cases for the second consecutive week.”
“We can’t become numb to this,” Beshear said. “Today’s reported death toll is much lower than several days this week, but these still are three individuals whose families and friends are devastated and grieving. Let’s care for them and respect their grief by redoubling our efforts to keep each other safe.”
The fatalities were a 75-year-old woman from Harlan County, an 81-year-old woman from Lewis County, and an 86-year-old man from Fayette County.
Counties with more than five new cases on the state’s daily report were Jefferson, 96; Fayette, 25; Warren, 16; Bullitt, 12; Greenup, 10; Henderson, 9; Pulaski, 8; Boyd and McCracken, 7 each; and Green, Jessamine, Madison, Muhlenberg and Oldham, 6 each.
In other covid-19 news Sunday:
- “President Trump is so fixated on finding a vaccine for the novel coronavirus that in meetings about the U.S. pandemic response, little else captures his attention, according to administration officials” interviewed by The Washington Post. “Trump has pressed health officials to speed up the vaccine timeline and urged them to deliver one by the end of the year. He has peppered them with questions about the development status and mass-distribution plans,” the Post reports. “And, in recent days, he has told some advisers and aides that a vaccine may arrive by Nov. 1, which just happens to be two days before the presidential election. Trump’s desire to deliver a vaccine — or at least convince the public that one is very near — by the time voters decide whether to elect him to a second term is in part a campaign gambit to improve his standing with an electorate that overwhelmingly disapproves of his management of the pandemic.”
- Six Post contributors offer “10 Things to Help You Get Through the Pandemic Into the Fall,” including: immunity-supporting soups, “a better pumpkin spice latte,” playing pickleball, make arrangements of pine cones and other evergreens, prioritize meaningful relationships, and volunteer to serve others.
- “Doctors and Nurses Take to TikTok to Fight Covid Myths,” Wired magazine headlines a story by Helen Santoro, who quotes one: “We can treat only one patient at a time, but if we can get a message out there that can hit thousands or hundreds of thousands, then we can change their thoughts.”