Plans made to increase pace of vaccinations and who’s next in line to get it; meanwhile, cases and positive-test rates increase
Revised version of chart presented by Gov. Andy Beshear during press conference Monday
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The governor said there is a lag in reporting, but “I am not satisfied with the pace of vaccination here in Kentucky,” and said the state had offered National Guard assistance to help the companies speed up: “We’re going to push. I’ll let you know, when we get our response, how many teams that lets us add.”
Former Gov. John Y. Brown Jr., who turned 87 Dec. 28, gave thumbs up as he was vaccinated. |
Several former Kentucky governors and their spouses received the vaccine, along with 11 leaders of the General Assembly, five Republicans and six Democrats. Beshear said it was important for public leaders to be seen getting the vaccine because “there is no question that there is vaccine hesitancy out there” and it has been proven that it helps people to overcome their concerns about vaccination when they see people they trust get vaccinated.
State Department for Public Health graph; for a larger version, click on it. |
“This shouldn’t necessarily sound the alarm, but it should tell us that where we are continues to be fragile, that in just one week of not doing the things we need to do, we can give up gains that we’ve bought,” the governor said.
“Folks, the only way that we can stop this now is to stop the community spread,” said Beshear. “It’s what we are doing in our communities or what we’re not doing. It’s not following the rules and regulations enough, not wearing a mask, not engaging in social distancing, not being careful that ultimately costs the lives of individuals in these facilities. Please, these are real people. . . . We just need to do better.”
- Today’s fatalties were a 79-year-old woman and an 81-year-old man from Boone County; a 54-year-old woman from Boyle County; three women, ages 73, 84 and 92, and a 72-year-old man from Campbell County; a 92-year-old man from Franklin County; a 70-year-old woman from Gallatin County; two men, ages 40 and 70, from Grant County; a 95-year-old woman and three men, ages 72, 78 and 92, from Jefferson County; four women, ages 66, 74, 99 and 102, and three men, ages 86, 88 and 90, from Kenton County; an 82-year-old woman from Lewis County; a 65-year-old man from Marshall County; and an 89-year-old woman and a 64-year-old man from Simpson County.
- Counties with more than 10 new cases were: Jefferson, 429; Fayette, 170; Boyd, 102; Kenton, 80; Warren, 76; Pulaski, 71; Boone, 66; Bullitt and Henderson, 59; Pike, 57; Oldham, 52; Logan, 51; Campbell, 47; Madison, 41; Daviess, 40; Greenup, 36; Harlan, 35; Marshall, 32; Crittenden and Muhlenberg, 30; Graves, 27; Boyle and Whitley, 26; Scott and Shelby, 25; McCracken and Taylor, 22; Jessamine and Simpson, 19; Anderson and Clinton, 18; Hopkins, 17; Harrison, Perry and Webster, 16; Floyd and Knox, 15; Leslie, Letcher and Ohio, 14; Clark, Hardin, Johnson, Knott and Union, 12; and Carter, Cumberland and Rockcastle, 11.
- Louisville has opened its first drive-thru coronavirus vaccination site at Broadbent Arena, with the expectation of administering about a thousand doses of the Moderna vaccine to health care workers who fall in the phase 1A group, Ryan Van Velzer reports for WFPL.
- Lexington reported 534 new coronavirus cases Monday, including 265 on Saturday and 269 on Sunday, Jeremy Chisenhall reports for the Lexington Herald-Leader. “It’s likely a combination of things,” health department spokesman Kevin Hall said. “New cases at [the Federal Medical Center], case backlogs and cases from December gatherings.” The federal prison on Leestown Road, has experienced an outbreak recently, with 329 active infections as of Thursday, according to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, Chisenhall reports.
- Five University of Louisville health workers who were the first people in Kentucky to be vaccinated against the coronavirus have received their final dose of the Pfizer vaccine, the Louisville Courier Journal reports.
- Around 70% of Jefferson County Public Schools‘ more than 18,000 employees have signed up to be vaccinated against the coronavirus during Phase 1B of vaccinations, which means more than 5,400 of them either declined the vaccine or did not respond to the vaccination survey, Jess Clark reports for WFPL.
- The General Assembly will require legislators to wear masks when on the floor and when in public spaces dealing with staff, its top leaders said on “Kentucky Tonight.” And what if they don’t? “We will see,” Osborne said. Senate President Robert Stivers said he hopes all members will comply because some members are at higher-than-normal risk from Covid-19, “but we can’t un-elect a person.” House Minority Leader Joni Jenkins, D-Shively said she was “very, very heartened” to hear that masks would be required, not just encouraged, as leaders of the Republican-controlled House had initially planned.
- The New York Times reports on President Trump: “Throughout late summer and fall, in the heat of a re-election campaign that he would go on to lose, and in the face of mounting evidence of a surge in infections and deaths far worse than in the spring, Mr. Trump’s management of the crisis — unsteady, unscientific and colored by politics all year — was in effect reduced to a single question: What would it mean for him? The result, according to interviews with more than two dozen current and former administration officials and others in contact with the White House, was a lose-lose situation. Mr. Trump not only ended up soundly defeated by Joseph R. Biden Jr., but missed his chance to show that he could rise to the moment in the final chapter of his presidency and meet the defining challenge of his tenure.”