Governor Andy Beshear confirmed 785 new cases of COVID-19 in Kentucky today, bringing the total case number to 37,686. On Wednesday, Beshear reported the state’s “single highest positive number of cases that we’ve had” at 1,163 new cases.
Today’s positivity rate is 5.67%. Beshear said other entities have the state at a higher rate but “we believe that our calculation is the most accurate.”
“The good news is even with yesterday’s numbers and today’s, I still believe by the end of the week we’re going to see that we are not in that exponential increase that we were seeing until a couple weeks ago,” he said. “It means that wearing a facial covering is working.”
Beshear said 658 Kentuckians are currently hospitalized with 140 in the ICU and 97 on a ventilator.
In long-term care facilities, he said 41 new residents and 46 new staff members have tested positive. One new resident died from coronavirus. Beshear said seven new childcare facilities reported at least one positive case. He said five new children and five new staff members are positive for the virus.
