Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear says Kentuckians successfully stopped that third escalation, and evidence shows that new cases of COVID-19 may be in a declining trend.
He reported 1,455 new cases, putting the overall total in the Commonwealth at 258,517, and he says the next two weeks will be critical, depending on how people decided to celebrate Christmas and other holidays. He says the data shows that cases are starting to decline, but he’s concerned there could be a spike due to celebrations, shopping and more.
More good news shows the positivity rate dropped below eight percent since the start of November, down to 7.97 percent. He urges people to keep up those well-known health guidelines, to not only keep the ground we’ve made to keep those cases decreasing.
Vaccines continue to go out around the state as more allocations continue to come in from both Pfizer and Moderna—40 additional sites are set to receive the shots in the coming week. Cabinet for Health and Family Services Eric Friedlander says Walgreens and CVS continue to administer vaccines to long-term care facilities.
Eight more Kentuckians have died in relation to coronavirus, putting the death toll in the state at 2,563. Calling it a mishap, an unknown number of Kentuckians received the vaccine at a Walgreens location that were supposed to be reserved for long-term care residents—the Governor says that has been addressed, and those people will receive the second booster shot. He reminds, however, that the vaccine is not available to the general public.
The Tennessee Department of Health reported 3,712 new COVID-19 cases, along with 76 new deaths.