Beshear says 119 new vaccine sites will bring total to 410; state’s positive-test rate keeps falling; other metrics remain mostly stable

Kentucky Health News

Gov. Andy Beshear announced that the state will open 119 new coronavirus vaccination sites next week, bringing the total to 410.

Six of the new locations will be regional sites; three are federally qualified health centers; 10 are at Walmart stores; 10 are at Kroger stores; and 90 will be at Walgreens stores. The new regional sites will be in Mount Vernon, Princeton, Burkesville, Richmond, Leitchfield, and Muhlenberg County.

Beshear said even though Kentucky only got 6,825 new doses last week because of the weather, the state was able to use all of its extra and ended up vaccinating 41,835 people with a first dose.

“Last week was disrupted . . . We used every remaining bit that was out there,” he said. “We will never judge ourselves in Kentucky by how quick the second dose gets to people. When we start doing that, it means we are sending it out willy-nilly. Every single second dose is for a specific individual that we want to get to that higher level of effectiveness of the vaccine. That’s what the FDA tells us to do. That’s what the CDC tells us to do. And that’s what we’re gonna do.”

The state’s daily vaccination report shows 646,836 Kentuckians have received their first dose of either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccine. That’s 14.7% of the state’s population, said Beshear.

Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman said transit agencies are offering free or reduced-cost transportation to and from vaccine appointments. She said such services are alreasy operating in 99 of the 120 counties. To find transportation near you go to kycovid19.ky.gov or call 855-598-2246.

“We want all Kentuckians who wish to get vaccinated to be able to do so, and we do not want transportation to be a barrier,” Coleman said.

Starting Monday, March 1, Kentuckians in Category 1C become eligible for the vaccine. The category includes essential workers, people 60 and older, and people over 16 with certain health conditions. Beshear continues to ask sites to prioritize people 60 and older.

Asked why hair stylists and barbers weren’t included in Category 1C, Beshear first commended them for doing a good job in following public-health guidelines, but said they would not be in 1C because the CDC had not included them.

Beshear confirmed that about 1,000 Ohioans signed up at a Kroger facility in Covington to get a vaccine. He said Kroger has since fixed the process so that can’t happen again, and he would ask the federal government to send Kentucky doses from Ohio’s allocation to make up for those doses.

He said the Ohioans will be allowed to get the shots: “They’re people, too, and they can spread it across the river.”

Daily numbers: The share of Kentuckians testing positive for the virus in the past seven days was 5.67%, the lowest that rate’s been since Oct. 24, but Beshear announced 1,447 new cases of the Thursday, bringing the seven-day average to 1,298, up for the third straight day.

He said this week’s case numbers are on track to be a bit higher than last week’s, but blamed that on less testing being last week because of the weather. For example, he said about 14,000 tests were done Wednesday, but only 9,600 were done last Wednesday.

From the Monday start of the reporting week through Thursday, there have been 4,780 cases; the same period last week had 3,958.

The state reports a new-case rate of 24.7 per 100,000 people over the last seven days. Counties with more than double that rate are McCreary, at 49.7 per 100,000; Owsley, 51.8; Laurel, 53.1; Russell, 56.6; Taylor, 60.4; and Caldwell, 269. The state ranks 10th in new cases, The New York Times reports.