785 new cases and 13 more deaths are reminders Covid-19 is still a problem; Beshear says vaccines are the solution

By Melissa Patrick

Kentucky Health News

As Kentuckians continue to get the coronavirus and die from it, Gov. Andy Beshear made yet another plea for people to get vaccinated. 

"As we can see from today’s case numbers, this virus isn’t going away on its own,” Beshear said in a news release. “We have to come together to stop it. Hundreds of Kentuckians are still getting sick every day. Our people are still dying from Covid-19. But we have the power to defeat this pandemic now, and the way we can do that is by choosing to get vaccinated.”

Wednesday's vaccine report shows 1,682,774 Kentuckians have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine. 

But to reach the governor's goal of getting 2.5 million vaccinated, which he says will make him remove capacity restrictions for most businesses and venues, about 817,000 more Kentuckians still need to get a shot. 

Vaccines are readily available across the state to everyone 16 and older; visit vaccinemap.ky.gov to find a vaccination site near where you live.

Beshear reported 785 new cases of the coronavirus on Wednesday, bringing the state's seven-day rolling average to 578.14, which rounds to the same number as Tuesday's 577.71. It was also 578 on Sept. 9, which was just before it started a general rise that didn't peak until January.

The share of Kentuckians testing positive for the virus is 3.39%, down .05 from Tuesday. This is the lowest this rate's been in a week; five days ago it was 3.51%. 

The state's daily average of new cases over the last seven days dropped to 11.36 cases per 100,000 residents, a drop of .35 from Monday. The New York Times ranks Kentucky's rate 35 among the states. 

Counties with rates more than double the statewide rate were Bracken, 49.9;  Lewis, 45.2;  Morgan, 41.9;  Bath, 37.7; Mason, 36; Powell, 34.7; Wolfe, 29.9; Menifee, 28.6;  Logan, 26.9;  Henderson, 25.3;  Harlan, 25.3; and Hancock, 24.6.

There are 417 people hospitalized with Covid-19 in Kentucky; 113 of them in intensive care; and 52 of those on a ventilator. 

The Lake Cumberland hospital readiness region and the easternmost region, from Pike to Lee counties, are the only two regions out of 10 that are using at least 80% of their intensive care unit capacity: 89% and 82%, respectively. 

For the first time in a while, more residents than staff in long-term care facilities have tested positive for the virus. Today's long-term care report shows seven new resident cases and five new staff cases, bringing the active cases up to 52 residents and 82 staff. 

The state reported 13 new Covid-19 deaths on Wednesday, seven from the regular health- department reports and six from the ongoing audit of death certificates. That brings the total to 6,373. 

The regularly reported deaths were an Allen County man, 78; a Boone County man, 80; a Henderson County woman, 63; two Jefferson County women, 62, 85; a Jessamine County man, 91; and a Leslie County woman, 75. The audit deaths were a Calloway County man, 64; a Christian County woman, 78; a Jefferson County woman, 81; a Jefferson County man, 91; a Russell County woman, 62; and a Taylor County woman, 77. 

In other pandemic news Wednesday: 

• Counties with 10 or more new cases were Jefferson, 117; Fayette, 49; Boone, 48; Warren, 34; Clark, 27; Kenton, 21; McCracken, 19; Henderson, Laurel, and Morgan, 18; Hardin, 17; Daviess and Madison, 16; Casey  and Scott, 15; McCreary, 13; Lewis, 12; Christian, Oldham and Taylor, 10. 
• On a vote of 3-2, the Clark County Board of Education voted for "nonrenewal" of Supt. Paul Christy's contract after this school year. The board member who made the motion for dismissal, Sherry Richardson, would not tell The Winchester Sun why she made the motion, saying, "I have no comment." One of the criticisms on his evaluation report cited that Christy had kept Clark County schools virtual during the pandemic, even after other school districts had returned to in-person learning. “I’ve been in education for 30 years,” Christy said. “I’ve made the statement that I came in with KERA and I’m going out with Covid.” He added that he could hold his head high and could sleep at night knowing he had done all he could to keep his students and staff safe, and to keep everyone in the district employed.