LEXINGTON, Ky. _ Gov. Andy Beshear announced 809 new cases of COVID-19 in Kentucky on Friday, pushing the case total to 51,677. Eleven more people with the virus have died, bringing the death toll to 987.
Since Sunday, 66 people have died from the novel coronavirus. Friday's new deaths make it the deadliest week since the pandemic started in early March. Friday also marked the fourth consecutive day where the number of new cases exceeded 800.
Beshear, in a written update, asked Kentuckians to "please keep your gatherings small" _ 10 or fewer people _ this holiday weekend, which also features the Kentucky Derby, but without fans.
"We already have lost so many Kentuckians, and I don't want that loss to be even greater. It will be if we have a spike in cases," he said.
Citing its success, the governor extended his executive order mandating people wear facial coverings in public for another 30 days. He also renewed a different order allowing pharmacists to dispense 30-day medication refills, which was set to expire Sunday.
The rate of people testing positive is up slightly to 4.7%. The state administered another 8,251 tests since Thursday, for a total of 910,697. But there have only been 38,868 new tests reported since Sunday, putting the state on track for one of the lowest weeks for testing since mid-July.
In K-12 schools, 27 additional students and seven staff at K-12 schools with the virus. Overall, 300 students and 109 faculty and staff members actively have the virus.
Although it's likely an undercount, Beshear's office also reported 51 new cases of the virus among college and university students. Four new staff also tested positive. Students at the University of Kentucky account for the lion's share of positive cases, with 459, according to UK's dashboard. Across 31 higher education institutions, at least 710 college and university students are actively positive, along with 27 faculty and staff.
Kentuckians between the ages of 20 and 29 continue to account for a large portion of the state's cases. Close to 160 of the 809 new cases on Friday were in this age group, and, overall, they make up close to 20% _ slightly more than 10,070 _ of the state's total cases.
In nursing homes, 51 residents and four staff were newly positive on Friday. More than 310 facilities statewide have had at least one case of the virus, and 585 residents and 352 staff are actively infected.
There are 574 people hospitalized with the virus and 138 in intensive care.
