Gov. Andy Beshear confirmed 171 new COVID-19 cases and five deaths in the commonwealth Saturday.
He said Kentucky currently has 3,905 total cases with 1,501 recovered. Beshear said all five of the people who died were in senior living-type settings. The deaths include a 92-year-old female in Graves County.
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Beshear said 24 additional residents and five new staff members in long-term care facilities have tested positive for coronavirus.
As he announced these numbers, listeners of the governor’s live stream could hear protestors outside the Capitol protesting social distancing measures. WFPL reporter Phillip Bailey asked Beshear for comment on an assertion from protestors that Muslims were allowed to go to mosques while Christians had their license plates recorded for attending service.
Beshear said the state’s orders apply to every mass gathering and don’t single out religion.
“Nobody is being singled out whatsoever and a judge recently ruled so in one of our cases,” he said. “In my knowledge there is not a single mosque open across Kentucky. Those are fear tactics. Those are ways people try to divide each other.”
Beshear said the number of new cases today is “better than yesterday” and has seemingly plateaued, or is somewhere in the top part of the curve. Beshear said state officials need a couple day’s worth of data to determine whether the state has started its decline.
Phase 1 health care services and facilities will begin reopening Monday, but Beshear said dentists will not.
“There isn’t agreed-upon guidance that has to get through given how it can spread through those offices. That is a part of the healthcare that we want to get open and want to get open very soon, but we have to make sure that we’re doing it right given how those oral secretions happen in a dentist’s office,” he said.
Beshear showed the state’s benchmarks for reopening.
“Our goal here has to be to do this right,” Beshear said. “We should all want to do it right because our decisions that we make and when we make them are the difference between life and death and they are also important decisions based on the timing for our economy itself. If we don’t do this right and we have a second spike we end up with more economic damage.”
He said he believes state officials are reopening “the right way” by starting with the healthcare industry.
Beshear said starting this Monday the state will have more drive-thru testing locations by a factor of “two or three” than in previous weeks. Beshear said the state has 11 separate locations where people can get drive-thru testing. He said state officials believe they will be able to add to those locations in the future.
“Since we have opened up our Kroger sites to anyone and everyone who wants a test, we have seen very significant demand.”
Beshear said the Bowling Green location is fully booked Tuesday through Thursday. He announced the location would also be open on Friday, as well as a second week.
Beshear said businesses who can’t obtain PPE (personal protective equipment) because of difficulties finding available equipment, can’t open.
“If you don’t have the PPE to protect your employees and your customers then no, we can’t do it in a way that would spread the virus,” Beshear said.
He said the state’s testing capacity has significantly increased and a total of 46,558 have been administered. He said 301 Kentuckians are currently being hospitalized with 1,266 total. He said 164 people are currently in the ICU.
