The trends continue to look good for Kentucky’s new cases of COVID-19, indicating there’s light at the end of the tunnel for this pandemic as long as folks follow health guidelines as more people are vaccinated.
Governor Andy Beshear reported 1,003 new cases Monday—the lowest number since the day after Christmas when few people had been tested the prior two days and the fewest since October 26 prior to that.
Hospitalizations, the ICU census and number of Kentuckians on a ventilator also continue to drop and there are now 25 non-red counties on the state incidence rate map. The positivity rate is 7.78 percent, the lowest since November 10.
The governor also announced 40 more deaths—bringing the pandemic total to 4,091.
Governor Beshear says about 460,000 Kentuckians—over 10 percent of the population—have been vaccinated and supply remains the only thing holding the commonwealth back.
About 4.3 percent of those vaccinations have been Black Kentuckians—about halfway proportionate to the makeup of Kentucky’s African-American population—something the governor says has to be worked on.
Beshear says his administration will be enlisting the help of African-American leaders and organizations to help instill confidence the vaccine is safe and to be sure folks know where to sign up for an appointment when their time comes.
The Salvation Army of Hopkinsville is one of 19 agencies in Kentucky that serve the homeless that is receiving a $20,000 check soon from the Team Kentucky fund.
Tennessee announced 1,226 new cases Monday and 97 more deaths. The positivity rate was 8.6 percent and hospitalizations dropped again to 1,294.