States has record week of COVID-19 cases

Gov. Andy Beshear warned Kentuckians Monday that coronavirus cases are escalating at an alarming rate.

During Monday’s press conference, Beshear announced Kentucky set a record of newly positive COVID-19 cases reported last week with 6,126. The previous record was set the previous week with nearly 5,000.

“If the current trends continue, it will be a difficult fall and a difficult winter, but I believe that we have the opportunity to improve our situation. One of the big ways we do that is wearing a mask.”

Unfortunately, Gov. Beshear said the rising number of cases is going to spark a response from government unless and until Kentuckians get the growth under control.

“We cannot have repeats of last week. Last week was our single highest week in terms of positive cases,” the Governor said. “The week before had been the highest week, and we shattered that record.”

Gov. Beshear said he would focus this week on stepping up enforcement on regulations put in place to protect Kentuckians during the coronavirus crisis. Businesses should not serve customers who refuse to wear a mask, the governor said.

“I think we have to do better, and we can do better,” Beshear said. “While it has been a challenge, when you look at just about any comparison across the country, Team Kentucky has done an incredible job.”

Dr. Steven Stack, commissioner of the Kentucky Department for Public Health, also confirmed the state is in an escalation of cases.

“We are clearly now in an escalation. There is no doubt about it,” Dr. Stack said. “We are unfortunately now on an experiment here in the state of Kentucky to prove or disprove, in a manner of speaking, if our rural state will experience the same tragedies that have unfolded elsewhere. I think one of the tragedies that plays in to this is this is something that is at least theoretically in our control if we choose different behaviors.”

As of Tuesday, Kentucky has had a total of 73,158 positive cases of COVID-19 and has conducted a total of 1,539,707 tests. There have been 1,214 deaths attributed to the virus. The positivity rate for the state, based on a seven-day rolling average, is currently 4.69.

David Johnston said Ohio County cases continue to increase.

“Unfortunatelly it keeps getting worse,” Judge-Executive David Johnston said the current number of cases.

As of Tuesday morning, the Green River District Health Department reported Ohio County has had a total of 501 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 60 currently active. According to GRDHD there are two patients currently hospitalized. The county has had nine total deaths attributed to the virus. Johnston said that is about 2 percent of all those who have tested positive for the virus.

“(That number) is actually a whole lot and is worse than the flu or anything else we have ever dealt with,” Johnston said during his weekly update on social media Friday.

GRDHD has also seen an increase in cases over the past couple of weeks. There have been a total of 3,756 confirmed cases in the district with 819 listed as currently active.

Friday, Gov. Beshear and Dr. Stack shared new guidance on how Kentucky families can celebrate Halloween safely.

“Let’s keep Halloween for the kids. Let’s all come together and make sure the kids can have a good, safe experience and have fun. This is not the year to have all the adult Halloween parties. Adult Halloween gatherings are not the same things as the kids’,” said Dr. Stack.