Coronavirus response: How the week unfolded in Kentucky

Here are key developments related to the coronavirus in Kentucky for the week of Monday, March 9, through Friday, March 13, compiled by Kentucky Health News.

Friday, March 13, 2020

• President Donald Trump declared a national emergency to combat COVID-19. Gov. Andy Beshear said it would give Kentucky more flexiblity and hopefully more funding, but he declined to comment on how the declaration might affect Medicaid. It could enable Kentucky to quickly enroll more people in the program.  
• Beshear now recommends that all community gatherings should be canceled or postponed: “We don’t want to be, and you don’t want to be, the community gathering that ultimately ends up spreading this.”
• He said those who can work at home should do so, and those who do have to go to their workplace should practice social distancing, eat at their desks and meet by telephone, and employers should stagger workers’ hours: “Take as many precautions as you can.”
• Friday morning, Beshear recommended temporary closure of the state’s 195 senior centers, which provide 8,000 meals a day to seniors, 4,800 on site and 3,200 by home delivery. He said plans are in the works to see that all who depend on these meals get them, either through home delivery or drive-by pickup. 
• Asked if any Kentucky patient had died of COVID-19 after being denied testing, which is in short supply nationally, Beshear said “not to our knowledge.”
• Tests have been conducted on 153 Kentuckians, with at least 14 positive results, including the first from Montgomery County today. Health officials said the person is in isolation at home. 
• A patient with the virus is in isolation at Baptist Health Lexington, the hospital said. The first victim identified in the state, a 27-year-old Harrison County woman, was discharged from the University of Kentucky hospital.
• The Washington Post did a story on Cynthiana and Harrison County, which has had six cases; The New York Times is working on one.
• Beshear said the Kentucky Employers Mutual Insurance Co. will provide wage-replacement benefits for first responders and medical personnel who have been quarantined for COVID-19 as a result of possible exposure at work. 
• He said state boards and commissions should use video teleconferences for meetings. In such cases, agencies must provide the public with a link to access the meeting remotely. 
• The state is working on guidance for coroners and funeral homes. Beshear encouraged social distancing for now, and said one option would be to hold a small funeral now and a larger gathering later. 

Thursday, March 12, 2020

• Gov. Andy Beshear announced that under the direction of Health Commissioner Steven Stack and others, he was recommending that all Kentucky public and private schools close for two weeks, and that if the third week is spring break, they should extend closure for a third week. He said that while children seem to be less affected, “We do believe they can spread the coronavirus just like anybody else.” 
• Acting Education Commissioner Kevin Brown said he has asked for a waiver to allow school districts to be federally reimbursed for food that children get from school cafeterias while schools are closed.
• Districts in the state’s non-traditional instruction program can use online instruction. Brown said he has asked for a waiver to allow districts that haven’t been approved for the program to do likewise.
• The number of Kentuckians with the coronavirus has risen by three, to 11. The state now has three testing sites: LabCorp, the University of Louisville and the state lab in Frankfort.  
• Officials recommend that all people avoid crowds and use social distancing when visiting with each other, meaning that you should stay six feet apart. Stack showed data from Seattle illustrating how the COVID-19 disease can be prevented by strong social distancing. He said that shows that if the state remains aggressive in its actions, and “if we do them quickly and if we don’t delay,” we have the best chance of “not having this disease take hold in Kentucky as badly as it could.” He posted a short video saying that aggressive action is needed now to prevent a spike in cases that would overwhelm the health-care system.
• Beshear said the previous recommendation against travel by people over 60 or with underlying medical conditions is “getting to where it’s for everybody. Don’t fly. Don’t get on a cruise ship.”
• The Kentucky General Assembly will not meet Friday and Monday out of “an abundance of caution” and to assess future steps, legislative leaders said.
• The Kentucky boys’ state basketball tournament and the remaining games of the girls’ tournament have been suspended indefinitely, the rest of the SEC men’s tournament has been canceled, and the NCAA has canceled all spring tournaments including basketball.

Wednesday, March 11, 2020

• Invoking the key principle of social distancing, Gov. Andy Beshear said Kentuckians should avoid crowds and churches should cancel their services. “I don’t believe whether you go to church at this time is a test of faith,” he said.
• “There’s going to be a lot of other steps” recommended as time goes on, Beshear said at a morning press conference.
• Beshear said school superintendents will be asked to develop plans that would allow them to close schools on 72-hour notice while still providing meals and care for students.
• The University of Kentucky said all classes would be online for the two weeks after next week’s spring break. The University of Louisville extended its current break to March 17, and said classes would be online from March 18 through April 5. Western Kentucky University said it would extend its break through March 22, then go to online courses for the two weeks after that.
• The state barred visitors at prisons and other correctional facilities, and Beshear said it would make recommend that to county jailers.
• It barred “non-essential travel” by state employees are said private employers should do likewise.
• State Health Commissioner Steven Stack declined to say how many Kentuckians had been denied testing, saying his epidemiologists were too busy right now to compile that number. The state says it follows federal guidelines for who can qualify for one of the limited number of tests that are available.
• The World Health Organizationdeclared COVID-19 a  pandemic, with more than 118,000 cases in 114 countries, and more than 4,000 deaths worldwide. “We are deeply concerned both by the alarming levels of spread and severity, and by the alarming levels of inaction,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
• President Trump banned most travel from Europe for 30 days, beginning Friday at midnight. He said in an Oval Office speech that the U.S. has “dramatically fewer cases” than Europe, but did not acknowledge that difference may be due to limited U.S. testing for the virus. He said his administration was moving “very quickly” to provide more test kits, but gave no specifics. “We are all in this together,” he said. “We must put politics aside, stop the partisanship and unify together as one nation and one family.”
• The state Cabinet for Health and Family Services provided a recipe for a home-cleaning product to disinfect against the coronavirus that causes COVID-19: mix a gallon of water with 1/3 cup of bleach. 
• Stack said it’s important to remember that it can take a few days to two weeks to show symptoms of COVID-19, and some will have it and have no symptoms, but still be contagious, “so you can have healthy-appearing but infected individuals spreading disease.”
• Beshear said, “The next month is going to be critical. That’s what all of the national health experts are saying, and how we respond to this in the next month, I believe, is going to determine how long we are dealing with it, but also how severe the impacts of the coronavirus are going to be here in Kentucky.” 
• The governor continued to encourage those 60 and older and those who have underlying health conditions to avoid being part of large crowds, including high-school basketball tournaments.  He said those who do go should practice both social distancing and excellent hygiene. 
• The NCAA announced today that all Division I men’s and women’s basketball tournament games will be played in arenas without fans, with only “essential staff and limited family” allowed to attend. 

March 10, 2020

• As of 5 p.m. March 10, eight people in Kentucky have tested positive for COVID-19, five from Harrison County, two from Fayette County and one from Jefferson. Numbers are updated here.
• The five Harrison cases, are women aged 27, 54 and 67, and men 60 and 68. The Fayette cases are men 46 and 49; the Jefferson patient is a 69-year-old man. All are in isolation.
• Gov. Andy Beshear said all the Harrrison cases are “linked” but he wouldn’t say how.  
• Beshear has directed nursing homes and other long-term care facilities to stop taking visitors, except for patients in end-of-life care. 
• He has signed an executive order allowing pharmacies to refill prescriptions for non-controlled medications for up to 30 days; to temporarily operate in areas not designated on their permits; and allow pharmacists to dispense drugs as needed to treat COVID-19, following state and federal guidance.
• CVS Pharmacy said that it will waive charges for home delivery of prescriptions; that Aetna, a CVS Health company, will offer 90-day maintenance prescriptions; and that it will waive early-refill limits on 30-day maintenance prescriptions for all members with pharmacy benefits managed by CVS Caremark.
• Berea College will end its semester Friday, March 13. Students have been asked to move out by March 14. President Lyle Roelofs said “It will not be possible to adequately assure student and employee safety in the circumstance of a case of COVID-19 … on campus.”
• The University of Kentucky is surveying faculty about their readiness and resources to teach online. UK’s spring break is next week.
• Beshear reiterated his call for employers to be flexible in their sick-leave policy, to make sure they provide enough leave to allow their employees to stay at home while they wait for their test results and for the duration of their illness, to avoid spreading the virus.
• U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a news release, “I would urge all of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, in both chambers, to put reflexive partisanship aside.”

PROTECT YOURSELF AND OTHERS

Information about COVID-19 in Kentucky can be found at kycovid19.ky.gov; to ask questions about the disease, call the state hotline at 1-800-722-5725.

Signs and symptoms of COVID-9 include fever, cough, shortness of breath, but many people with the coronavirus have no symptoms, or may have the virus and be contagious for several days before developing symptoms.

If you develop symptoms and have been in close contact with a person known to have COVID-19, or have recently traveled from an area with an ongoing spread of coronavirus, it is recommended that you seek medical advice.

The virus is thought to spread mainly from person to person through tiny droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes.

Measures to protect yourself include: washing your hands with soap and warm water for at least 20 seconds; only use alcohol-based hand sanitizer if soap and water are not available; avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands; avoid close contact with people who are sick; stay home if you are sick; do not visit with seniors or people with chronic health conditions if you are sick; cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue and then throw it away; get a flu shot; clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces; and engage in social distancing, which means trying to stay six feet apart.