- Gov. Andy Beshear asked school superintendents to extend the suspension of in-person classes to April 20, two weeks beyond the previous plan.
- The primary election, already moved from May 19 to June 23, could require mail-in voting, Beshear and Secretary of State Michael Adams said.
- Beshear said the income-tax filing deadline has been extended to July 15, to confirm to an extension made by the federal government.
- The governor said officials believe 63 cases of covid-19 have been confirmed in Kentucky, but reporting from here on won’t be as precise as before because “We have more and more testing labs coming on every day.” The Lexington Herald-Leader tracks cases.
- Bluegrass Extended Care Medicine in Lexington began drive-through testing for the coronavirus today, the Lexington Herald-Leader reports. Test subjects “must either have symptoms (fever, dry cough, chest tightness, trouble breathing) or have been exposed to a covid-19 patient,” the clinic said on Facebook.
- People who later tested positive for the virus may have exposed dozens of people to it at church services in two counties, the Herald-Leader reports: “In Pulaski County, 40 people are in self-quarantine after potentially being exposed to the coronavirus at a church service last Sunday, local officials said Friday. And in Calloway County, University Church of Christ in Murray advised its congregation, which included around 150 people Sunday, to self-quarantine for the next 10 days, it said in a since-deleted Facebook post.”
- Asked about those cases at his Friday afternoon press conference, Beshear said, apparently with more hope than qualification, “This weekend there are going to be no social gatherings.” He added, “We do believe we have seen a spread in church services and we need to do what it takes. He said churches can do good things to help in the crisis, “just don’t get folks together in a crowd.”
- Asked about a church service planned at a drive-in theater, he said, “I believe this is a creative solution as long as there is that distancing between those cars,” and Health Commissioner Steven Stack agreed. Asked about golf courses, Beshear said people outdoors should stay eight feet apart and golf carts should not be used. The virus lives on surfaces.
- Beshear said two funeral homes, which he did not name, are holding “very large funerals” though “There’s no place in Kentucky where we ought to have crowds,” and “We will have to take more aggressive steps if everybody out there doesn’t conform to this guidance.”
- The governor also urged businesses to comply, saying “It is not about anybody’s bottom line, it is not about party, it is just is Americans against this coronavirus.” He said the state will work over the weekend to create a phone number employees call if they are concerned about their workplaces. “We are trying to take escalating steps to make sure we are reducing contacts,” he said, adding that if businesses don’t comply, “You will force us to take action.”
- He said people who have started applying for unemployment online need to finish their applications by 11:59 p.m. Saturday. Asked how many claims have been filed, he said federal officials had asked him not to give a number, but he said the number was eight times the 1,957 claims last year at this time. That would be 15,656.
- Kentucky’s first case probably came from “someone who had traveled to California around the time the first COVID-19 cases were hitting Los Angeles, then returned home to the Cynthiana area with the virus. The case is one of at least 16 positive tests that Kentucky epidemiologists believe they have tracked back to their origins,” the Courier Journal reports. “Officials now believe that the cluster of nine confirmed cases in the Cynthiana area — seven in Harrison County and two in neighboring Bourbon County — may all be linked to one person’s trip to California. The most recent case in the cluster, a 50-year-old man, was announced Wednesday night.”
- The Northern Kentucky Health Department said it is closing its centers to the public “in an effort to increase social distancing, as well as focus additional resources on covid-19 response,” it said. Some services “will continue virtually and by phone.”
- Shelby County imposed a curfew on juveniles from 11:30 p.m. to 6 a.m. Sunday to Friday and 1 a.m. to 6 a.m. Saturday and Sunday, with exceptions for juveniles who are accompanied by a parent, or an adult 21 years or older and authorized by a parent to accompany the juvenile, and for juveniles returning home from work or religious, school or civic activities.
- Rural newspapers need to take special measures to deliver the message of prevention through social distancing and other behavior that presumes “everyone has the virus,” The Rural Blog said in a special message to its readers, especially rural papers.
(Kentucky Health News is an independent news service of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, based in the School of Journalism and Media at the University of Kentucky, with support from the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky.)
