The number of Kentuckians vaccinated against COVID-19 is creeping up while the virus continues to spread rapidly throughout the state.
Governor Andy Beshear reported 2,596 new cases Monday, which is one of the highest amounts reported on a Monday throughout the entirety of the pandemic. He says the positivity is steadily increasing, now at 12.87 percent, and the number of Kentuckians hospitalized, in the ICU and on a ventilator have increased across the board.
He also reported 17 new deaths, all of which occurred in the month of August and bumps the overall death toll up to 7,558. There is now only one county on the state incidence rate map labelled as ‘orange’—and that’s Robertson County—with the other 119 counties listed as ‘red’.
Governor Beshear says many hospitals are starting to become overwhelmed, and in response they will be deploying the National Guard to provide support to multiple medical facilities, including in Bowling Green. His administration has also filed a request with FEMA, asking for emergency medical response teams that would provide trained healthcare professionals that could support understaffed and overworked agencies.
The governor celebrated the Pfizer vaccine receiving full FDA approval, and hopes it will encourage those who have been hesitant to go ahead and get the shot.
Speaking on the Kentucky Supreme Court decision from over the weekend that new laws to limit the Democratic governor’s powers in health emergencies can stand, Governor Beshear says it will be more in the hands of the legislature to make those hard decisions to help keep people safe.
He urged people to not go to an emergency room to get a COVID-19 test, but to find a different avenue to get that test to not put additional stress on overtaxed systems. He is canceling his executive order regarding students wearing masks in school, but there is still a state board of education emergency regulation in place.