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Beshear Reports Kentucky’s Positivity Rate Classified In ‘Danger Zone’ By The White House

Governor Andy Beshear

Governor Andy Beshear announced Kentucky’s second highest daily number of COVID-19 cases to date. During the governor’s July 24 press conference he reported 797 new cases, bringing the total number of cases in Kentucky to 25,931. Beshear said his office will be watching case numbers over the weekend to determine his next steps.

“What it means is that we are continuing to see an increase and a growth that we absolutely have to stop,” Beshear said. “We'll be watching these very carefully through the weekend. If we do not see the numbers come down, we're gonna have both a series of recommendations and steps that we will need to take.” 

Beshear reports Kentucky’s mortality rate for COVID-19 is approximately 3%. 

“If you apply the mortality rate to 797 cases, it means we expect to lose a lot of Kentuckians,” Beshear said. “That is going to be heartbreaking. So let's make sure that we are more committed than ever.”

Beshear reported seven COVID-19 related deaths. 

“That's seven more Kentuckians that we have lost to this virus,” Beshear said. “We see people in their 50s and in their 60s in this list at a level that seems to be increasing daily.”

Beshear reports four additional long-term care facility residents and 18 additional staff tested positive for COVID-19, and six additional resident deaths related to the virus.  

The current number of Kentuckians hospitalized due to COVID-19 is 618, 130 of whom are in the intensive care unit (ICU).  

Beshear reported a significant increase in the state’s positivity rate. Kentucky now has a 5.28% positivity rate today based on a rolling average. 

“That is now over the 5% mark that the White House and others suggest is in a danger zone, and where they begin to recommend that we start taking steps,” Beshear said. “Now, yesterday we were under that. Today we're over it. We're going to want to see what happens in the next couple days.”

Beshear reported 19 children under five in the state have tested positive for COVID-19, including a one-month-old from Laurel County.

Beshear said he recently met with the Kentucky Council of Churches to discuss the rising number of cases. 

“A real concern that we're seeing, almost a trend, is where somebody goes on vacation, brings it back from the beach, and then goes to church and we see a spread through that church,” Beshear said. “So I talked with them, and let me be clear, there's no mandate. There is no order. There's no executive order. There's no regulation. There's nothing like that. But I recommend for the next two Sundays with the escalating number of cases that we have drive up services.”

Beshear said if anyone will be participating in the 127-mile yard sale held in August they will need to follow requirements set for mass gathering. The yard sale is set up along Highway 127 and includes multiple counties and out of state locations. Each year the yard sale attracts massive gatherings of consumers and vendors. 

Beshear said people are going to need to wear their facial covering, be no closer than six feet, and practice precautionary hygiene. He said booth operators should wear gloves and establish a “you touch it, you buy it” rule. 

In other business, Beshear announced a public/private partnership with Agritech. Beshear says the partnership will be prosperous for Kentucky. 

“Agritech will help create tech startups and high paying knowledge based jobs across the Commonwealth by commercializing Kentucky's own best ideas,” Beshear said. “We're investing nearly $1.16 million to create the Kentucky commercialization ventures which will grow the state's tech sector by working with inventors, scientists and students identifying and advancing innovations to produce intellectual property.”

According to Beshear, Ernst and Young will continue assisting Kentucky with the unemployment insurance backlog. When Beshear announced the contract with Ernest and Young three-and-a-half weeks ago, he had hoped to get through 50,000 claims by the end of this week. Beshear said as of July 23, Ernest and Young had help with more than 56,000 claims. 

 

Hannah is a Murray State Journalism major. She found her place in radio during her second year in Murray. She is from Herndon, KY, a small farming community on the Kentucky/Tennessee stateline.
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