Kentucky’s Public Health Commissioner says runners don’t slow up near the finish line and neither should Kentuckians in trying to reach herd immunity with coronavirus.
During Monday’s briefing on COVID-19, Dr. Steven Stack said the Commonwealth can stay out in front of virus variants with additional vaccinations and continued masking in public. “This is not imperiling our ability to get to the end of the journey. It just means that people have got to recommit and not give up before we cross the finish line. We’ve just got to hang in there for a few more months and I think that yes we do have a chance to prevent this from becoming a major problem,” said Stack.
Governor Beshear, meanwhile, said he supports an increase in the minimum wage but added it’s not as simple as setting a dollar figure alone. The governor was asked Monday about the pay issue. Beshear says total compensation is wages plus benefits. “If you were talking about 15 dollars an hour and no health care versue 13 dollars an hour and health care, they’re just different. It’s not apples to apples,” explained Beshear.
In offering his coronavirus report, Governor Beshear said Kentucky has seen eight straight weeks of declining cases. He announced 331 new cases and ten additional deaths along with a positivity rate of just over 4%. Beshear says hospitalizations continue to fall.
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