Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear says the Delta variant continues to create surging COVID-19 case numbers in the state and he gave recommendations to schools that are set to reopen next month.
Governor Beshear says you can see the escalation of coronavirus clearing in the data, and it shows thirty days of an increased positivity rate, now at 7.89 percent, and that hospitalizations, the number of individuals in the ICU and on a ventilator are all rising as well. Calling the Delta variant more dangerous, the governor says there’s also evidence that those who have had COVID previously are becoming reinfected.
While a number of vaccinated individuals are also testing positive for the virus, he says the numbers are much higher with worse outcomes in the unvaccinated population.
Governor Beshear says they are recommending for schools, when students return, to require unvaccinated students and staff to wear face masks while indoors and students under the age of 12 should wear face masks at all times.
Public Health Commissioner Dr. Steven Stack says this variant has exponentially more ‘viral load’ than previous variants, making it more contagious.
He reiterated that any serious symptoms and deaths caused by COVID-19 at this point are almost completely preventable, thanks to the availability of the vaccine. There were 783 new COVID cases reported in the state Monday, along with two new deaths that puts the overall death toll at 7,319 since the pandemic began.