Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear gave an update on COVID-19 in the Commonwealth Monday afternoon, reporting 4,951 new cases from across the weekend.
He called Monday’s report an overall positive, with the exception being the number of newly reported deaths at 102, putting that overall total at 8.906 since the pandemic began in the state. There 2,511 new cases Saturday, with 54 new deaths—there were 1,201 new cases reported on Sunday and an additional 22 deaths and then there were 1,239 new cases on Monday along with 26 new deaths. The governor urged everyone to remember both those who have been lost and those who have lost loved ones, and to do what is right to honor them.
The positivity rate continues to drop now at 9.31 percent, with Governor Beshear saying that decline is very encouraging, along with the decrease of people in the hospital with COVID-19.
He says that even though things are trending in the direction we want, hospitals still remain fairly taxed with staffing shortages—he is also confident that Kentucky will receive the number of monoclonal antibody treatments that they requested from the federal government.
Governor Beshear announced he intends to file an official recommendation to the Kentucky General Assembly about possible essential worker pay bonuses, which would give those who had remained employed for the last two years a bonus for their work using American Rescue Plan funds.
He says they’ll send an extensive, thorough request in the coming week with the hope that the legislature would take time during the upcoming session of the general assembly to determine what plans, if any, would be approved.