Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear reported 4,324 new COVID-19 cases Thursday, and says that the data is still favorable towards a possible slowing of the escalation.
The overall total of cases in the Commonwealth is at 213,450, and the positivity rate decreased slightly once again to 9.13 percent. Governor Beshear says that continuing decrease is a good sign of de-escalation, and they’re hopeful that will only keep going down, even as some restrictions on restaurants and other organizations lift and change next week.
Governor Beshear says they will still recommend keeping private gatherings to less than ten people, and the 10 p.m. curfew for bars and restaurants will still be in effect, but they will be able to return to 50 percent indoor capacity.
If vaccines receive approval in the coming days, then Kentuckians in high risks categories could start being vaccinated as soon as December 15—which the governor says could help eliminate 66 percent of fatalities in Kentucky, which is made up of residents in long term care facilities.
Public Health Commissioner Dr. Steven Stack says hospital capacity in the state is slowly starting to fill up, with some regions starting to reach about 80 percent of ICU capacity—he says that’s just one area a vaccine could help unburden. He says he has no doubt however, that the actions that were taken in the last few weeks have been generally successful.
Twenty-eight more Kentuckians have now died, putting the death toll at 2,146. There is now only one Kentucky county that is labeled as ‘orange’ on the state incidence rate—all the rest are ‘red’. The Tennessee Department of Health reported 6,011 new cases there, along with 69 new deaths—that puts the Volunteer State death toll at 5,240 since the pandemic began.