Notes and Highlights of Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear’s Live Update October 7, 2020 : Coronavirus_KY

76,587 Cases (+2,398*), 1,223 Deaths (+5)

New cases by county: 191x Jefferson, 39x Fayette, 31x Warren, 30x Hopkins, 28x Daviess, 25x Kenton, 25x Laurel, 21x Bullitt, 21x Scott, 20x Boone, 20x Hardin, 20x Henderson, 16x Knox, 15x Christian, 15x Whitley, 14x Calloway, 14x Pike, 14x Shelby, 13x Franklin, 13x Knott, 13x Letcher, 12x Adair, 12x Boyle, 12x Todd, 11x Graves, 10x Allen, 9x Jessamine, 9x McCracken, 9x Nelson, 8x Barren, 8x Campbell, 8x Madison, 8x Rockcastle, 7x Anderson, 7x Greenup, 7x Logan, 7x Taylor, 6x Bourbon, 6x Carter, 6x Larue, 6x Montgomery, 6x Pulaski, 6x Spencer, 5x Clark, 5x Fulton, 5x Martin, 5x Nicholas, 5x Wayne, 4x Woodford, 4x Boyd, 4x Edmonson, 4x Harrison, 4x Hart, 4x Hickman, 4x Leslie, 4x McCreary, 4x Meade, 4x Mercer, 4x Ohio, 4x Union, 4x Washington, 3x Grant, 3x Harlan, 3x Jackson, 3x Lawrence, 3x Lincoln, 3x Magoffin, 3x Mason, 3x Muhlenberg, 3x Perry, 3x Russell, 2x Bell, 2x Butler, 2x Crittenden, 2x Green, 2x Hancock, 2x Johnson, 2x Lewis, 2x Marshall, 2x McLean, 2x Menifee, 2x Monroe, 2x Oldham, 2x Powell, 2x Simpson, 1x Breckinridge, 1x Caldwell, 1x Cumberland, 1x Elliott, 1x Estill, 1x Floyd, 1x Garrard, 1x Grayson, 1x Livingston, 1x Marion, 1x Rowan, 1x Webster, 1x Wolfe

New deaths by county: 65 M Harlan, 80 F Greenup, 75 F Whitley, 68 M Fayette, 79 M Henderson

Fast 4 Today.

• 1. Breast Cancer Awareness Month, October is nationally recognized as Breast Cancer Awareness Month. It’s a time each year when we recognize survivors of breast cancer, acknowledge individuals who are living with metastatic disease, and honor the memory of those we have lost. This month is also a time to raise awareness of preventative measures that women can take and have the importance of regular screening. Breast cancer is one of the leading health crises’ for women in the United States and unfortunately too many of us know someone who has been impacted by this disease.

• 2. Second point is Coverings for Kids. I launched the coverings for kids program with Lieutenant Governor Coleman, back in August as a way to support our school districts with additional face coverings as they prepared for the return to in-person instruction. Since that day, I have been so proud to see people all across the Commonwealth step up and respond to our call to action. I haven’t been surprised though because that’s what we do on Team Kentucky, we look out for one another, and support each other when there is someone in need. Wearing a face mask is one of the best ways to prevent the spread of the coronavirus and your donations are helping to ensure that everyone in our schools can access a mask if they need one.

• 3. Voting. This year has looked different in many ways, a big one for us personally is, for me and Andy, is missing our trip to the polls as a family. Voter registration for Kentucky ended this Monday, but registered voters still have time to request an absentee ballot, if you have concerns about voting in person due to the coronavirus. That deadline is fast approaching, Friday October 9th, so, three days. Make sure you go online to http://govoteky.com, call your county clerk’s office to request your absentee ballot, as soon as possible.

• 4. Four: Mask Up Kentucky. I’ve said before that wearing a mask is one of the best ways to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Right now as we continue to see high case numbers, it is crucial to practice kindness to others, to set a good example by wearing a mask, when you are out in public. It helps protect you and the people you care about.

First I want to say there are about 1,781 licensed facilities across the state. we still see 55 that are closed. There are about 218 registered childcare centers across the state, we still see about 13 that are closed. Now, when we originally started we were worried about higher numbers than that but there are childcare centers across the state that are still struggling that still need more support and we understand that. As of last week we had 14 centers apply for some of the additional funds to help them get registered to become registered providers for additional childcare, so that process has started, and we think we’re up to about 14 right now. One of the ways that we provided some relief was about $225 per child who were enrolled in an existing licensed or certified childcare center. What we are doing today with some additional CARES funds, is we are going to provide an additional $130 per child for registered and licensed childcare centers. We hope, we believe, that this will help keep some of those centers open, help keep some of them going.

So today we’re reporting 2,398 cases of the coronavirus. Breaking those down we are reporting 926 new cases today. That is a significant number, in and of itself, and as it compares to the last several weeks, it is the second highest number of those last four weeks. There are 1,472, we’ll call them historical cases, they’re mainly from the last month and a half from Fayette County, so many of those could even be in the last several weeks. We believe that, with the exception of maybe a couple hundred which will come in over the next couple days, this will get Fayette County caught up and current.

I just want to comment briefly on what the governor talked about, the number of new cases today. I know this is complex. It’s frustrating, it’s frustrating for all of us, there’s a lot of moving pieces, but as we go along this path, it’s good news that we’re able to make things better. And so, we worked with Fayette County to get their numbers caught up and they’ll never perfectly align, but it’s going to be a lot tighter now going forward. So I’m very grateful that we were able to get that to a better place, and get it there going forward. We’ll have additional information going forward about when we find labs who have come forward and given historical data, and that causes these big leaps where sometimes there’s 50,000 or 70,000 new tests that show up in our total number tested.

Slides from Update

I guess you’ve noticed I’m not Andy . I think we should probably start as Andy likes to start and say that we will get through this, we will get through this together. I’m here today to deliver the Fast 4 at 4, and I want to start with something that’s very important,

Breast Cancer Awareness Month, October is nationally recognized as Breast Cancer Awareness Month. It’s a time each year when we recognize survivors of breast cancer, acknowledge individuals who are living with metastatic disease, and honor the memory of those we have lost. This month is also a time to raise awareness of preventative measures that women can take and have the importance of regular screening. Breast cancer is one of the leading health crises’ for women in the United States and unfortunately too many of us know someone who has been impacted by this disease. One in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime and the American Cancer Society estimates that 3800 Kentucky women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in 2020. Fortunately, diagnosing breast cancer in its early stages reduces the risk of death from the disease and increases your treatment options. That’s why it’s so important for women ages 40 over to get regular mammograms. Providers are encouraging patients to continue their routine screening schedules, even during the pandemic. Get in touch with your healthcare provider to discuss a plan to stay current on your screenings, while also taking precautions against coronavirus. Insurance generally covers the cost of most routine screening mammograms, but uninsured and underinsured women may receive a screening mammogram, excuse me mammogram, through the Kentucky Women’s Cancer Screening Program. This is a great federally funded resource provided through our Health and Family Services cabinet. For more information and to find healthcare providers, please call 1-844-249-0708 (or go online at http://chfs.ky.gov). I am honored to partner with the Kentucky Cancer Program to continue the legacy of Kentucky First Ladies before me by supporting the celebration of hope. This is a wonderful event, which we lift up and honor Kentucky’s breast cancer survivors. This event is special to me, in part, because of the memories I have of Horses and Hope that my mother in law Jane Beshear hosted in her time as First Lady. Sadly, we cannot have an event together this year due to the coronavirus, but to all of our survivors, please know I am thinking of you, and I’m so inspired by your resilience. To everyone out there fighting this disease, your strength of spirit is so powerful, I’m sending hope to you in your fight. To honor those who we have lost, I call upon all of us to commit to raising awareness and sharing breast cancer, education, so that all women have access to screening, treatment, and hope, regardless of their circumstances. For additional support and resources you can contact the Kentucky cancer program at 1-877-326-1134 or by visiting http://kycancerprogram.org

Second point is Coverings for Kids. I launched the coverings for kids program with Lieutenant Governor Coleman, back in August as a way to support our school districts with additional face coverings as they prepared for the return to in-person instruction. Since that day, I have been so proud to see people all across the Commonwealth step up and respond to our call to action. I haven’t been surprised though because that’s what we do on Team Kentucky, we look out for one another, and support each other when there is someone in need. Wearing a face mask is one of the best ways to prevent the spread of the coronavirus and your donations are helping to ensure that everyone in our schools can access a mask if they need one. Obtaining masks can be difficult for some families and we know that young kids, especially, are likely to either lose their face mask or get a little dirty out on the playground. These donations provide an extra pool of resources for students, teachers and staff, making safety a bit more accessible for everyone in our schools. I want to extend a huge thank you to everyone that has made mask donations to their schools. And thanks to your generosity, over 40,000 masks have been donated to Kentucky school districts so far, and more are on the way. Many of those donations are handmade and are often donated in large quantities, meaning that there are so many Kentuckians out there giving hours of their time to ensure the safety of those in our schools. I want to share the story of two such people.

• Sisters Marty and Phyllis of Muhlenberg County, who felt call to action from the moment that Doctor Fauci announced that Americans should wear masks to protect themselves and others from COVID-19. They made masks of all sizes and varieties for members of their community and carried them everywhere, to give to anyone that needed them. When they heard about our Coverings for Kids program, they instantly thought of Muhlenberg South Elementary, we’re Phyllis’ granddaughter Autumn is a student. They knew that there were students in need of masks that would have a hard time getting them. Marty and Phyllis made arrangements with the school principal, and graciously gave their time and energy to produce two masks for each student and faculty member, for a total of 566 donated masks. To Marty and Phyllis and all the amazing people on Team Kentucky, who have given their time and effort to donate masks to our school districts, I cannot thank you enough. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

• And thank you to our teachers, school staff, and administrators, for your dedication and commitment to providing an education to our students this year, and every year. As the parent of a fifth and a sixth grader, I know this year has been a challenge on many levels. I’m deeply appreciative for everyone that is doing the work of educating and supporting our students. Our schools still need your help, and I’m calling on you once again in this effort to help support them with extra resources. Most of Kentucky schools will have made some form of return to in person instruction by the end of this month so we are making one final push for donations in the Coverings for Kids campaign before we close out the program on October 30. For information on the program and how you can get involved, visit the website (http://firstlady.ky.gov/CoveringsforKids) listed on the slide. We’d love to share your stories, so be sure to use the #CoveringsForKids hashtag on social media. I encourage you to keep donating masks to your school districts by the deadline of October 30th if you can. Wearing a mask is one of the best ways to prevent the spread of the virus, just so crucial right now, you are helping to make masks more accessible to our students and staff that may be in need.

Voting. This year has looked different in many ways, a big one for us personally is, for me and Andy, is missing our trip to the polls as a family. We’ve always made it a priority to take our kids with us to vote and to show them how important it is to participate in our democracy. Andy and I choose to vote absent or, excuse me, we chose to vote absentee this year and while we didn’t all get to go to the polls together, we still made a commitment to making our voices heard in this election. I returned my ballot at a dropbox, Andy returned his through the mail, both ways are safe and easy. I want to remind you that regardless of how you vote this year, it is important that you know your options and commit to a safe voting plan. Voter registration for Kentucky ended this Monday, but registered voters still have time to request an absentee ballot, if you have concerns about voting in person due to the coronavirus. That deadline is fast approaching, Friday October 9th, so, three days. Make sure you go online to http://govoteky.com, call your county clerk’s office to request your absentee ballot, as soon as possible. Kentuckians have more voting options than ever this year. Whether you plan to vote absentee early in-person, or in-person on election day, make sure you have a plan in place. It’s important to be aware of the upcoming dates and know what your options are. So again, visit http://govoteky.com, or contact your county clerk’s office for information about how you can vote in your county. No matter what your plan is, follow through on it, vote, make your voice be heard.

Four: Mask Up Kentucky. I’ve said before that wearing a mask is one of the best ways to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Right now as we continue to see high case numbers, it is crucial to practice kindness to others, to set a good example by wearing a mask, when you are out in public. It helps protect you and the people you care about. Today, we will continue to recognize people in groups or setting a good example by masking up when they’re out and about.

And before I turn it over to Secretary Freelander, I know Andy and Dr. Stack have been out here, day after day, urging Kentuckians to wear masks. I implore you, please wear your mask. I was taking my son to school this afternoon, and I saw all of the kids walking with their parents, going into school and they were so excited. Please, let’s help keep these kids in school, and let’s get the rest of our kids back into school. Please wear your mask. It’s important, saves lives, and it helps our children to thrive further in their schools.

Good evening, I’m Secretary Friedlander of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services. I have talked to Kentucky before and the folks assembled here before about childcare. So today I have another announcement about childcare. First I want to say there are about 1,781 licensed facilities across the state. we still see 55 that are closed. There are about 218 registered childcare centers across the state, we still see about 13 that are closed. Now, when we originally started we were worried about higher numbers than that but there are childcare centers across the state that are still struggling that still need more support and we understand that. As of last week we had 14 centers apply for some of the additional funds to help them get registered to become registered providers for additional childcare, so that process has started, and we think we’re up to about 14 right now. One of the ways that we provided some relief was about $225 per child who were enrolled in an existing licensed or certified childcare center. What we are doing today with some additional CARES funds, is we are going to provide an additional $130 per child for registered and licensed childcare centers. We hope, we believe, that this will help keep some of those centers open, help keep some of them going. And those fundings are primarily provided for employee wages, facility rent and rent payments, mortgages, utility payments, insurance payments, and then some of the additional costs that childcare centers have had to incur through this COVID crisis. So we’re excited to announce that today, that’ll be at about an additional $20 million to childcare centers across the Commonwealth. And as the First Lady said: Please wear a mask, you’re doing this for everyone around you.

Thank you to Secretary Friedlander, and while I think he does a great job, I think our first speaker today is pretty special. We’ve got an amazing First Lady who cares about each and every one of you out there. That gives of her time which is like so many that, like those of us who are raising kids, busy, to try to do the right things and I hope you will hear her message, like you hear our message that we need to follow these guidelines, we need to mask up. I think I saw a letter to the editor in one of the newspapers today about government offices, and it was something that every government office should be fully open like driver’s licenses. I just want to tell people that we are still in the midst of this virus, and it’s impacting state operations too. For instance, today, we have three driver’s license offices closed because of at least one positive COVID test. One is in Louisville, it’s the second time that they’ve had to close, one is in Elizabethtown, and one is in Prestonsburg. Previously we’ve had them in Madisonville, a separate one in Louisville, and even in Frankfort. We follow the Healthy at Work protocol, we work hard, but remember, this is a virus that really spreads, so we’re going to continue to have the ability to apply to renew your driver’s license by mail, and by other means. And remember, these folks that work there are your neighbors and they’re your friends. And let’s make sure that we’re doing everything to protect them too. We cannot allow inconvenience to take our eye off the ball and what we need to do for COVID. Yes, doing a lot of things differently, is going to mean some take more time, or more difficulty, but the right thing is the right thing and oftentimes, it’s hard. So what happens when we have a positive test as we send the employee home, they’re told to monitor their symptoms, and test if indicated, closure signs are posted on doors of those offices, they’re posted on social media, the offices are deep cleaned, sanitized, and the minimum shutdown is 96 hours. We cooperate with the local health department on contact tracing, and customers with appointments are notified and they are rescheduled, but government offices just like every other part of Kentucky is having to deal with the virus. And remember, it’s not what capacity we set that as the real threat, it is the inability to stop a virus that shuts you down 100% for a period of time, and we got to make sure we continue to have the humility that we are in the midst of an epidemic, that it can strike, that it can be deadly, and simply this concept that we’ve got to live with it now and we should go back to normal. We can’t go back to normal. Not in the midst of this pandemic, we will get there, but it’s going to take time and we got to stay strong.

All right, today’s report includes both new cases, and includes a significant effort to get through Fayette County’s backlog cases and get them up to date, current. So I’m going to give you an overall number that is for today that is startlingly high, and then I’m going to break it out and how many of them are truly today. And how many of them are backlog cases. Even without the backlog cases, we’re on pace, unfortunately, to have another record week for the most cases that we have had. And we have always reported statewide cases, when we received them. It’s the only way we can do it because otherwise we’re going to go back and edit numerous reports, but we are providing transparency and how many of these are truly today. And how many of them are getting Lexington up to speed.

So today we’re reporting 2,398 cases of the coronavirus. Breaking those down we are reporting 926 new cases today. That is a significant number, in and of itself, and as it compares to the last several weeks, it is the second highest number of those last four weeks. There are 1,472, we’ll call them historical cases, they’re mainly from the last month and a half from Fayette County, so many of those could even be in the last several weeks. We believe that, with the exception of maybe a couple hundred which will come in over the next couple days, this will get Fayette County caught up and current. I’d reiterate that we need our local health departments which are working really hard to timely report the data and we see that the vast majority of them have, and this is a way to get one of, what has been one of, the slower, based on the number of cases certainly, one of the slower health departments caught up. And so the state numbers and the local health department will be reflective. Now, those are all real cases, just because they didn’t happen today. Those are 2,398 individuals. We hope most of them are asymptomatic. But you can apply the same percentages, whether it’s 1.7%, which is the mortality rate or the higher hospitalization rate and know there are a lot of Kentuckians out there that this virus is affecting.

Positive cases today: 2,398

Probable cases: 10,439

Total confirmed cases: 76,587 – certainly more cases than than we want

Children Under 18: 358

And remember, there are 1472 Fayette County cases that were over the last month and a half that are included in these.

New cases by county: 191x Jefferson, 39x Fayette, 31x Warren, 30x Hopkins, 28x Daviess, 25x Kenton, 25x Laurel, 21x Bullitt, 21x Scott, 20x Boone, 20x Hardin, 20x Henderson, 16x Knox, 15x Christian, 15x Whitley, 14x Calloway, 14x Pike, 14x Shelby, 13x Franklin, 13x Knott, 13x Letcher, 12x Adair, 12x Boyle, 12x Todd, 11x Graves, 10x Allen, 9x Jessamine, 9x McCracken, 9x Nelson, 8x Barren, 8x Campbell, 8x Madison, 8x Rockcastle, 7x Anderson, 7x Greenup, 7x Logan, 7x Taylor, 6x Bourbon, 6x Carter, 6x Larue, 6x Montgomery, 6x Pulaski, 6x Spencer, 5x Clark, 5x Fulton, 5x Martin, 5x Nicholas, 5x Wayne, 4x Woodford, 4x Boyd, 4x Edmonson, 4x Harrison, 4x Hart, 4x Hickman, 4x Leslie, 4x McCreary, 4x Meade, 4x Mercer, 4x Ohio, 4x Union, 4x Washington, 3x Grant, 3x Harlan, 3x Jackson, 3x Lawrence, 3x Lincoln, 3x Magoffin, 3x Mason, 3x Muhlenberg, 3x Perry, 3x Russell, 2x Bell, 2x Butler, 2x Crittenden, 2x Green, 2x Hancock, 2x Johnson, 2x Lewis, 2x Marshall, 2x McLean, 2x Menifee, 2x Monroe, 2x Oldham, 2x Powell, 2x Simpson, 1x Breckinridge, 1x Caldwell, 1x Cumberland, 1x Elliott, 1x Estill, 1x Floyd, 1x Garrard, 1x Grayson, 1x Livingston, 1x Marion, 1x Rowan, 1x Webster, 1x Wolfe

Remember Hopkins was hit really hard early on, about 20 deaths plus coming out of one major superspreader event. Again, it shows you how this virus can strike.

Total tests conducted: 1,568,542 (PCR: 1,481,331, Serology: 58,924)

Positivity Rate: 4.21%

Total hospitalized: 5,679

Currently hospitalized: 672

Total in ICU: 1,554

Currently in ICU: 161

On a ventilator: 79

Total recovered: 12,800

New deaths today: 5

Total Deaths: 1,223

New deaths by county: 65 M Harlan, 80 F Greenup, 75 F Whitley, 68 M Fayette, 79 M Henderson

Sadly today we’ve lost five additional Kentuckians, and we expect in the next several weeks these daily numbers will go up as the number of cases have gone up. Each one is an important individual whose family loves and misses them.

Racial breakdown of all cases: 79.59% Caucasian, 12.29% Black or African-American, 1.61% Asian, 5.99% Multiracial

Ethnicity breakdown of all cases: 89.99% non-Hispanic and 10.01% Hispanic

Racial breakdown of all deaths: 83.51% Caucasian, 12.75% Black or African-American, 1.07% Asian, 2.67% Multiracial

Ethnicity breakdown of all deaths: 96.48% non-Hispanic and 3.52% Hispanic

Long Term Care Facilities (PDF): 48 new residents and 22 new staff positive from yesterday, and 3 more deaths.

• Total facilities: 339

• Total deaths: 724

• Active cases: 711 residents, 440 staff

• Total cases: 4868 residents, 3219 staff

Day Care Facilities: 8 new facilities, 7 new staff, 5 new children. 270 facilities, 323 staff, 158 children,

Now the colleges and K-12, we are using the rest of the week to automate. It’s going to cut down about nine man or woman hours in our Department for Public Health. The dashboard is available online, up to date. Between now and I think Monday when we will have the audited system which is that secondary one that we report each day back up and online.

K-12 Update (PDF):

University Update (PDF):

Today we’ve got another one of those examples of the fact that this is not just individuals on a spreadsheet but real people who are loved and who are missed. Today we’re remembering Michael Reynolds, who died at 58 years old, and lived in Louisville. On Tuesday, October 6th, Michael Reynolds of Louisville lost his battle to COVID-19, Michael is just 58 years old. His niece, Miss Fisher, shared that Michael could always be found spending time with his family and friends, listening to music, watching sports, and shopping. She bragged he had the biggest and best wardrobe that anybody had ever seen. He was known for a sense of style and always talking about his children, grandkids, fiance, and friends. He loved them all so much. He was known locally by his first one of a kind style, his events and dances, and being an all around friendly guy. Michael was the cool cat to all, and he will be deeply missed. Miss Fisher asked that we share the story of her uncle to stress the seriousness of COVID-19. 58 years old. Let’s make sure that we continue to light our homes up green. Let’s do it tonight in honor of Michael and his family. Let’s continue to ring our bells at 10 in the morning. More importantly, let’s mask up so we don’t lose any other Michael Reynolds, and we don’t have families like his that have to go through what I know this family is going through.

I wanted to mention the Thomson-Hood Veteran Center in Wilmore continues to have more positive tests. Now, at least 25 veterans have tested positive. The center is conducting facility-wide testing of all veterans and all employees every 72 hours, as well as testing anyone showing COVID-19 signs or symptoms. Employees are screened daily, as well as tested every Monday and Thursday. Protocols for isolation and safety are in place, and a COVID unit has been established in accordance with the guidelines and recommendations. Nine symptomatic veterans have been transferred to the VA Medical Center in Lexington, and the facility is working with the VA, the State Department for Public Health, and the local Jessamine County Health Department. We wish these veterans, who have served our country, a full recovery, and we’re going to be working as hard as we can to ensure that that happens. Now I think we’re going to hear from Dr. Stack a little bit about where we are and get his thoughts and then we’ll open it up to questions.