Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear gave an update on COVID-19 in the state Tuesday afternoon and signed an executive order mandating facial coverings in Kentucky schools.
Governor Beshear says the Delta variant of the coronavirus is skyrocketing in the state, announcing 2,500 new cases Tuesday, the most reported in a day since January, along with a positivity rate of 11.05 percent. He says he can not urge people enough to get the vaccine and also to mask up while in public, because people are getting badly sick.
He also reported seven new COVID-19 related deaths—there’s been a 43 percent increase in people who are hospitalized with COVID-19 within the last week. In response, the governor signed an executive order requiring that all students, teachers, staff and visitors in all schools must wear a facial covering, regardless of vaccination status. Beshear says the number of children who are contracting the virus and being admitted to a hospital is higher than ever.
He says this will help not only keep children healthy, it will help keep them in-person in schools and learning from their teachers, which in turn will allow parents to keep working and keep the economy where it needs to be. Facial coverings were already a requirement in Christian, Todd and Trigg County Schools.
There are now 108 counties listed as ‘red’ on the COVID-19 state incidence rate map, including Christian, Todd, Hopkins, Muhlenberg, Caldwell and Logan counties, with Trigg and Lyon counties now ‘orange’.