Gov. Beshear announces 1,781 new COVID cases, 23 deaths

Governor Andy Beshear announced one of the lowest recent Tuesday totals of new coronavirus cases at 1,781, though there are still many uncertainties about what the numbers mean coming out of the holidays.

At least 1,760 Kentuckians are in the hospital with the virus, 430 are in the ICU and 215 are on a ventilator.

Governor Beshear reported 23 more deaths, including a 78-year old man from Logan County.

The governor announced at least 66,582 Pfizer and Moderna vaccines had been administered as of Tuesday afternoon and said it’s hard to predict the schedule of getting through the various phases without knowing how many doses will be allocated to Kentucky any farther than a week in advance.

Beshear believes at least one of the bills to limit his emergency powers being considered by the General Assembly is unconstitutional and he’s focused on the vaccine rollout and unveiling a budget Wednesday night.

Tennessee reported 5,399 new cases and 99 more deaths Tuesday. There were 3,246 Tennesseans hospitalized with the virus and the positivity rate stood at 20.85 percent in the Volunteer State.