Positive-test rate drops for 6th straight day; Beshear talks about how to open schools; hospitals coordinate transfers to save beds
Lexington Herald-Leader map by Dan Desrochers, adapted by Ky. Health News; click to enlarge
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By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News
Although public-health experts worry when more than 5 percent of people who get tested for the novel coronavirus receive a positive test result, Gov. Andy Beshear took heart Wednesday that it was the sixth straight day that Kentuckians’ rate, averaged over the past seven days, had declined — even though it was 9.23%. And there was other good news.
Graph by Kentucky Health News; click on it to enlarge. |
Beshear reported 3,481 new cases of the virus, which is 367 fewer than Tuesday and 670 fewer than last Tuesday, when the state set its record for single-day cases, 4,151.
“We continue to see some promising trends in our Covid-19 numbers,” Beshear said in a press release. “They are still far too high, but given that we were experiencing exponential growth before we took those difficult steps, this is evidence that we may not just be slowing down that growth, we may even be plateauing our cases. You have to slow down the train before you stop it, and you have to stop it before you turn it around.”
“We haven’t heard of a system like this for Kentucky, and luckily it isn’t needed here,” KHA spokeswoman Ginger Dreyer said in an e-mail. “The hospitals in each of Kentucky’s preparedness regions are already working together to balance patient load and transfer patients to maintain access.”
The fatalities were two women, 81 and 94, and a man, 80, from Caldwell County; a Clark County man, 32; a Daviess County man, 94; a Floyd County man, 65; a Harlan County woman, 98; a woman, 78, and a man, 74, from Jefferson County; a Jessamine County man, 90; a Livingston County woman, 69; a Marshall County man, 82; a McLean County man, 82; an Ohio County woman, 69; an Owsley County man, 89; and a Webster County man, 68.
In other coronavirus news Wednesday:
- Counties with more than 10 new cases were Jefferson, 731; Fayette, 238; Kenton, 144; Warren, 119; Boone, 105; Madison, 102; Hardin, 81; Campbell, 75; Daviess, 74; Christian, 69; Pulaski, 68; Boyd, 66; Boyle, 60; McCracken, 53; Bullitt, 51; Greenup, 41; Laurel, 38; Scott, 37; Bell and Oldham, 36; Whitley, 35; Jessamine and Pike, 33; Franklin and Taylor, 32; Hopkins, 31; Lincoln and Perry, 30; Letcher, 29; Grant, 28; Adair, 26; Carter, 24; Henderson, 23; Floyd and Simpson, 22; Allen and Logan, 21; Clay and Martin, 20; Casey and Shelby, 19; Knox and Livingston, 18; Barren, Lewis, Montgomery, Muhlenberg and Rowan, 17; Clark, Garrard, Mercer, Nelson and Spencer, 16; Caldwell, Hart and McCreary, 15; Anderson, Graves, Marshall, Metcalfe, Monroe, Ohio, Russell and Wayne, 14; Butler, Gallatin, Mason and Woodford, 13; Grayson, Henry, Leslie and Meade, 12; and Clinton, Green and Washington, 11.
- The daily report for long-term-care facilities shows 2,531 active cases among residents and 1,241 among staff, with 163 new resident cases and 111 new staff cases. There have been 1,440 resident deaths and seven staff deaths attributed to Covid-19.
- Leaders of the Republican-controlled state Senate said they would pass two bills to limit the governor’s emergency powers. Kentuckians “are very upset with a lot of decisions made by Governor Beshear and they want to trim the sails, so to speak, of the executive branch,” Floor Leader Damon Thayer said. The Courier Journal‘s Joe Sonka reports, “Thayer also spoke favorably of a proposed constitutional amendment to allow the legislature to call itself into a special session, which only the governor is allowed to do.” Voters rejected that idea in 1990.
- Beshear’s release said 4,069 applications have been filed for the Food and Beverage Relief Fund, requesting $36.4 million. The state has approved $17.5 million so far. The fund has $40 million in available for bar and restaurant owners affected by the pandemic.