Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said today Attorney General Daniel Cameron asked a court in Boone County for every single order the Beshear administration has put in place to be overturned and to prevent the administration from putting in orders in the future.
“No rules. Companies wouldn’t even have to sanitize or use hand sanitizer. No masks. Just the wild west. That’s terrifying,” he said.
Beshear said the court granting Cameron’s request would mean that people would die. He said it would remove the authority that “virtually every other governor is using to battle this virus” and would result in a spike in coronavirus cases. He said Cameron’s request is “really, really wrong.”
Beshear said the request aims to eliminate every ability to enforce Healthy At Work requirements and would do more than “destroy the economy, cost lives and keep kids from being back in schools.”
He said the orders in the request also include expanding workers compensation eligibility for workers that have to quarantine as a result of exposure.
“That means our first responders, our active military, our grocery store workers wouldn’t get workers comp when they come down with the virus that they got from protecting us,” Beshear said.
Beshear said the request would also eliminate his waiver of copay deductibles, cost sharing and diagnostic testing fees for private insurance. He said it would charge people for taking coronavirus tests.
Beshear said through social distancing and facial coverings, Kentucky was aggressive and was able to put the types of rules in place to flatten the curve.
“Imagine if we had not done Healthy At Home where we would be right now. We had to shut everything down to make sure this thing didn’t overwhelm us like Florida before. And it can happen to us again,” he said.
Beshear said he’s done everything he can to protect the people of Kentucky.
“I lie awake at night almost every night.”
Beshear reported 413 new cases of coronavirus today, including 51 long-term care residents. That brings the total number to 21,083 cases. He said those positives are out of a total number of 507,197 tests.
Beshear said 418 Kentuckians are currently in the hospital and 92 in the ICU. This week Kentucky has a 4.38% positivity rate. He said more kids are testing positive, including two in the ICU. He said 13 children under five years old in the state have coronavirus.
Beshear reported five new deaths. The total count is 650.
He announced the approval of $5.5 million in CARES Act reimbursements to 22 local governments in eastern Kentucky. The funding will be used to reimburse payroll expenses, PPE, sanitizing and telecommuting supplies.
