LEXINGTON, Ky. — Gov. Andy Beshear announced 2,342 new cases of COVID-19 in Kentucky on Thursday — the third highest single-day increase — raising the state's total number of cases to 129,680.
"This virus continues to spread at such an alarming rate," Beshear again said. He also noted that the positivity rate continues to climb, reaching 8.29% on Thursday — the highest since May, a time when the state was testing far fewer people and there was no statewide mask mandate.
That should be all the more troubling, he said: "This is a high positivity rate with an abundance of testing, which means the virus is at an all-time high."
Beshear also announced 18 additional deaths, bringing the death toll at 1,622.
The number of people hospitalized in Kentucky with the novel coronavirus continues to markedly increase. Since Wednesday, 37 more positive patients have been hospitalized, for a total of 1,311. Of those, 299 are in intensive care (up from 297 Wednesday), and 163 on ventilators, a dozen more.
The number of positive cases in Kentucky's nursing homes is also rising. There are 150 new cases among residents and 133 new cases among nursing home staff, pushing the total number of active cases to nearly 2,200.
In K-12 schools, 145 more students and 69 staff have tested positive and another 973 students and staff are in quarantine after being exposed to someone who tested positive, according to the school coronavirus dashboard. As more districts temporarily return to virtual learning only, nearly 4,000 students and 738 staff are in quarantine this week.
Almost 80% of Kentucky is now in the "red zone," where spread is considered at a critical stage. Beshear on Thursday asked local leaders, employers, business owners, and residents in those 94 counties to concertedly try to reduce their in-person activities over the next week by following a series of recommendations, including working from home, attending school virtually, refraining from getting together in even small groups, opting for curbside pick-up and canceling all larger public and private group events.
The governor has repeatedly balked at enacting new statewide mandates or temporarily shutting down businesses to more aggressively control spread. There's a lack of compliance already, he has said, and more mandates wouldn't necessarily spur greater compliance. He repeated this refrain on Thursday after the Kentucky Supreme Court handed him a victory by upholding the constitutionality of his emergency regulations.
"Right now we are not considering any full shutdown of any industry," he said. "We shouldn't have to if people do the right thing and if businesses will enforce it. It's all in the hands of Kentuckians to do the right thing so we don't have to consider these options."
