Governor Beshear is looking to Washington to provide funding support to continue Kentucky’s coronavirus testing program.
During his briefing Tuesday the governor said six months of coronavirus measures carry a $350 million price tag. “If we don’t have testing to show people are positive, think about all the stories and we know that people are doing ok, doing ok that are positive, then they fall off a cliff. Some we lose. Some we’re able to get to fast enough. When people don’t even know they’re positive by the time they get ready to go to the hospital it is gonna be too late,” said Beshear.
Beshear said there had been no reports of bad reactions to COVID-19 vaccinations so far this week. He said state officials are working on an online dashboard that will be able to track the increasing number of vaccinations over time. Beshear reported 2,946 new coronavirus cases Tuesday along with 15 deaths.
Kentucky Public Health Commissioner Steven Stack said nationally the coronavirus surge is happening more quickly and more broadly than previous upticks. That word came from Federal Coronavirus Coordinator Deborah Birx who met with state officials in Kentucky. Dr. Stack noted Dr. Birx’s assessment confirms how the state has been successful in stunting surges three times through restrictive measures. “We have one of the worst health status’ unfortunately in the United States of America. And despite that, we have one of the best performances in the entire country for low numbers of death across the state,” noted Stack.
Stack said state and federal health officials discourage leisure travel through at least the end of December. The public health commissioner also advised Kentuckians to stay with only their own households over the upcoming Christmas holiday.
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