Governor Beshear sounded an upbeat tone during Monday’s coronavirus briefing. The governor said much is moving in a positive direction with declining cases and positivity rates coupled with enough capacity at Kentucky hospitals.
Plus, Beshear noted the advent of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine along with higher shipments of the other two vaccines bold well for future vaccination numbers. “Because of increasing supply we believe we are going to double the number of people vaccinated to date over the next month,” said Beshear.
Beshear announced 509 new cases, the lowest count since September 28th. He also reported a positivity rate of 4.8% along with 15 additional deaths. While saying all 120 Kentucky counties were in the highest COVID-19 transmission category of red for months, the governor said now that figure is down to just 25 counties.
Starting this Friday, Governor Beshear said a number of Kentucky businesses can increase their capacity limits by ten percent to 60 percent. That includes restaurants and bars, fitness centers, movie theaters, retailers, and nail salons. Still, the governor cautioned, the other coronavirus preventive measures must stay in place. “If your facility is of a size where at 50%, you cannot maintain social distance, the ten percent doesn’t allow you to cut down on that social distance. It’s having to meet the mask mandate, meet the social distancing requirements, and then the capacity requirement works,” explained Beshear.
Beshear said more information and examination of data is needed to try to predict the impact of coronavirus variants on the number of future cases. But, the governor added the trend of falling cases over several weeks instills confidence that real progress is being made in combatting COVID-19.
If you appreciate access to this important content during this global pandemic, please help us continue to provide public service journalism and information to Central and Eastern Kentucky communities. Please make your contribution to WEKU today.
