Even in the midst of winter weather, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear gave a COVID-19 update Monday, reporting 723 new cases, the lowest daily number since October.
The positivity rate dropped once again, a continuing decrease, now at 6.57 percent. The governor says they have seen a ‘significant’ decrease in new cases, and he urges everyone to keep it up so they can hopefully ease some lingering coronavirus restrictions.
He says hospital capacity is more robust than it has been in some time, with plenty of room for those who need it—he says by continuing to wear a mask until everyone is vaccinated will help keep these numbers down.
The governor says it’s not clear how much the weather is affecting totals coming in, but so far all trends point to a better handling of the pandemic—there are 969 Kentuckians in the hospital, the lowest in some time.
Nine more Kentuckians have now died, putting the overall total at 4,291. Governor Beshear says they have decided to bump child care workers up to vaccine phase 1B, allowing them to start receiving the vaccine at once if they want one.
The Tennessee Department of Health is reporting 1,143 new cases of COVID-19, along with four new deaths, which puts the death toll in the Volunteer State at 10,937.