Health

Beshear said the state remains in "a danger zone, but again with the time to do things right." In a new suggestion, he said businesses could help by letting more of their employees work from home.

The deceased was a 65-year-old Black man. A health department spokeswoman said his case was not related to any community clusters or facilities.

The Christian County Health Department announced early Thursday that the site would be closed.

The state announced 619 new cases on Wednesday, up from 590 the day before and 522 Monday, but nowhere near the second highest number of 836 reported Saturday.

So far this month, 279 new cases have been reported — more than half of all local cases confirmed since the first positive test in mid-March.

Christian County Health Department Spokeswoman Amanda Sweeney stressed in a news release Tuesday that a negative test does not end the quarantine period for individuals who've been exposed to someone with COVID-19.

The report brings the county's total of confirmed cases since the pandemic began locally to 485. Of those, 185 are active and 295 are recovered, according to the health department.

"We are still at higher levels than we've ever been, but the fact that we are seeing that decline over the last few weeks is very important," said Dana Quesinberry, research core director for the Kentucky Injury Prevention and Research Center. "There is hope that we are making progress again, so whatever triggered the increase is being managed or mitigated in some way." 

As of Sunday, 40% of all Christian County coronavirus cases confirmed since the pandemic began locally were active.

Dr. Steven Stack, the state's public health commissioner, said Kentucky can still avoid the crisis confronting other states, referring to states that are running out of intensive care beds and seeing increasing deaths due to the virus.

Among the active coronavirus cases in Christian County are several residents and employees of three local long-term facilities, a state database shows.

Dr. Deborah Birx told hundreds of emergency managers and other state and local leaders that they should act quickly to stem the outbreaks. Among her recommendations were to trace the contacts of patients testing positive for COVID-19 in areas where test positivity is going up.