Governor Andy Beshear gave an update on both the devastating tornadoes that claimed lives in the western Kentucky recently, and on the COVID-19 pandemic that continues in the state.
He started the update by giving what he says is a fully up-to-date death toll, which now stands at 76—the governor says those numbers have been triple checked between the Department of Public Health and local agencies and he believes it to be accurate.
He says they no longer have a missing person list, as those individuals have all been accounted for in some way—there have been approximately 7,700 claims filed with FEMA and debris clean-up continues in multiple communities across the state.
In the COVID update, Governor Beshear says booster shots are proving effective against the omicron variant, which is good news, and he encouraged people to go out and get it, if you haven’t already.
He reported 2,575 new cases on Saturday, along with 32 deaths—Sunday saw 1,531 new COVID cases and 29 deaths, and then Monday had 1,215 cases and 32 deaths. Governor Beshear says while they’re still not sure how the tornadoes will affect their COVID data, they are hopefully they’re seeing a leveling off in cases.
The positivity rate is has remained fairly stagnant in the last several days, with the rate at 9.20 percent.