The lodge at Lake Barkley State Resort Park in Trigg County will house people who need a place to quarantine during the coronavirus pandemic.
(Kentucky Department of Parks photo)
Barkley and Lake Cumberland State Resort Park in Russell County were slated to offer the free housing option beginning Sunday, a spokesman for the Kentucky Department of Parks said.
Gov. Andy Beshear announced the plan last week and said the two state parks will provide an option for people who don’t have a suitable place to quarantine after being diagnosed with COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
“Sometimes people don’t have a home where they can be isolated from others,” the governor said.
Only people who have relatively mild symptoms and are able to care for themselves will be able to stay at the two state parks. Limited medical staff who can monitor COVID-19 symptoms and provide basic first aid will be available at both sites.
Lake Barkley has 135 lodge rooms available, said parks spokesman Gil Lawson.
The accommodations will include three meals a day and a room with television and wifi, the governor said.
Park dining rooms are closed, so medical staff will deliver meals to the rooms, said Lawson.
(Jennifer P. Brown is the editor and founder of Hoptown Chronicle. Reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org.)
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. Brown was a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era, where she worked for 30 years. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board past president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition. She serves on the Hopkinsville History Foundation's board.
