Governor Beshear paid tribute to Lillian Press Tuesday night during his daily coronavirus briefing at the capitol. Press, who made large contributions in education and mental health in Kentucky, passed away Sunday in Washington State from complications of COVID 19. The 95 year old moved west last fall after her husband, Leonard Press who founded Kentucky Education Television, died last July.
Beshear became emotional when talking about Press who organized the Governor’s Scholars Program for high school seniors. Beshear was one of those participants years ago. “Never known, nor would she that, years after that, more than a decade after she made it happen, it would be something that would change my life. That would change the course about how I felt about myself and how I interacted with others. She did get to see the first person that graduated from the Governor’s Scholars Program become governor,” said Beshear.
The governor has said there are stories behind each Kentuckian lost to coronavirus. Beshear reported 14 deaths last night and 230 new cases.
The governor continues to stress an easing of coronavirus related restrictions will come gradually in phases. During the briefing, he was asked about summertime sports activities. The governor said it’s not something that will resume in the near future. “Direct physical contact between people where you have no social distancing. So, we’re going to work on that and the timing as we move forward, but if we allowed that in phase one it would exponentially spread those contacts,” explained Beshear.
Beshear did say he intends to discuss the potential timing for a return to dine-in restaurant business along with information about Churchill Downs at Wednesday’s briefing.
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