The Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services is encouraging employees and contractors at Kentucky state-run health care facilities to get vaccinated by October 1. But that’s not what a news release said yesterday.
On Tuesday, Gov. Andy Beshear’s office issued a statement correcting an announcement released Monday that said Cabinet for Health and Family Service employees would be required to get the COVID-19 vaccine. The cabinet will not require but rather encourage employees to get the shot by Oct. 1st.
Secretary of the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services Eric Friedlander said masking will be required and more testing will be conducted.
“We're going to ask that everyone test at least twice a week to make sure that we are protecting both other staff and residents to make sure that we are not bringing in more of the COVID variant than we should,” he said.
Vaccinated employees will not be required to get tested every week.
Beshear again urged people to get the vaccine, especially as the Delta variant continues to spread.
“We want to get back to normal. And if you have not gotten vaccinated, you're preventing us from getting back to normal,” Beshear said. “To those that have been vaccinated, try not to get frustrated, because that's not going to help.”
Cases of the virus have risen significantly in recent weeks. Fayette, Madison and several eastern Kentucky counties are seeing critical spread of the virus. On Monday, Kentucky reported more than 1,000 new cases. The state’s rate of positivity is 9.77%.
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