Regional & State

The steps are among those recommended by the White House to prevent the spread of the virus.

"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." 

The state’s positivity rate — the number of coronavirus tests that come back positive compared to the total number of tests — has steadily increased and is at its highest point in recent months, 5.41%.

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.

The governor reported 797 new cases of the coronavirus Friday, raising the seven-day rolling average to 631, which is 38 higher than yesterday. The only higher daily total was 979, reported Sunday.

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.

Nine new cases of COVID-19 reported Friday, pushing county's total to 471.

Beshear reported 611 new cases of the coronavirus Thursday, raising the seven-day rolling average to 593, more than double what it was on July 7, as the surge was beginning.

Following a staffing shift to address COVID-19 demands, some traditional Christian County Health Department programming originally put on hold is now resuming in an online format.

Beshear said the share of Kentuckians testing positive for the virus in the last seven days was 4.92 percent, also the highest since those days, when tests were largely limited to people with symptoms.

“It seems like we’ve got half that take it seriously and half that don’t. Half that believe it’s a hoax or is being inflated." — Lake Cumberland District Health Director Shawn Crabtree

Beshear largely rebuffed Republican legislators' suggestions that his limits on activity be reduced in areas that have low infection rates, saying the virus can spread too quickly for that.