As Ky. records 10,000th Covid-19 death, Beshear sees a risky two months ahead and cautions schools against going mask-optional

State Dept. for Public Health graph, adapted by Kentucky Health News; to enlarge, click on it.

By Al Cross

Kentucky Health News

As Kentucky recorded its 10,000th death from Covid-19 and the recent decline in new cases stopped, Gov. Andy Beshear said the disease could resurge soon and suggested that schools should keep mask mandates until early January.

"We know what holidays can do, the amount of gatherings," he said. "Certainly, keeping universal masking at least a couple of weeks past New Year's in schools would keep down the numbers."

Several school districts have stopped mask mandates this month though their counties are in red or orange on the state coronavirus map, indicating they still have high or substantial transmission of the virus.

"I am concerned . . . that many school districts are going mask optional before we are out of the orange," Beshear said. "There is no place that respiratory type viruses spread more than in schools."

Thursday night, the Marion County school board voted 4-1 to make masks optional when the county's case-incidence rate is below 50 daily cases per 100,000 residents for seven consecutive days. That rate is twice the threshold for the red zone, in which the county remained today, at 25.2 per 100,000.

In nearby Mercer County, where a 3-2 board vote on Sept. 17 made masks optional and instituted a "test to stay" program, Supt. Jason Booher told his board Oct. 21 that the case-incidence rate rose only slightly, The Harrodsburg Herald reports. The county's incidence rate is 22.8 per 100,000.

Masks will only be "recommended" in Oldham County High schools starting Thursday, and in elementary and middle schools Nov. 29, after a 3-2 board vote Monday, The Oldham Era reports. The county's rate is 16.7 per 100,000.

Daily numbers prove a plateau: Statewide among the population at large, new cases of the coronavirus have clearly hit a plateau after declining for almost two months. The seven-day rolling average of daily new cases stands at 1,162; that's 2 percent higher than Friday's seven-day average of 1,138.

Beshear prefers to discuss weekly figures, and the latest Monday-to-Sunday weekly report showed the seventh consecutive week of decline, but it was the smallest decline during the eight-week period.

"With the decrease slowing, it against suggests to me that we are headed towards a plateau," Beshear said, adding later, "If we plateau here, we're higher than we should be."

The share of Kentuckians testing positive for the virus in the last seven days has also risen, to 5.44%, after dropping just below the 5% threshold of concern last week. Beshear said that could be due to fewer tests.

The statewide seven-day infection rate is 21.26 daily cases per 100,000, slightly higher than the 21.05 average recorded Friday. Counties with rates more than double the state rate were Robertson, 67.8; Breckinridge, 49.5; Powell, 47.4; Grant, 46.7; Carroll, 44.3; and Greenup, 43.1.

Kentucky hospitals reported 687 Covid-19 cases Monday, 11% fewer than the previous Monday; 196 of them were in intensive care and 121 were on mechanical ventilation. Beshear said 44 of the 96 acute-care hospitals reported critical staff shortages, the first time in many weeks that fewer than half did.

Deaths reach five figures: The state reported 80 more Covid-19 deaths since Friday, raising the pandemic's toll in Kentucky to 10,019. "It is nothing short of tragic," Beshear said, adding that the disease has been the No. 3 cause of death in the state this year, as it was last year.

"Everybody has lost someone now," he said. "It tears at the fabric of what we are." 

He said the state will honor the dead at a memorial service at 1 p.m. ET Sunday, and the event will include announcement of the artist chosen to create a "Team Kentucky memorial" to the victims, family members, first responders and "health-care heroes." He suggested that people turn on their green lights in memory of the dead "at least through Sunday."

Behsear said the dead over the weekend included several young adults, including a 19-year-old woman from Perry County, a 22-year-old woman from Rockcastle County, a 29-year-old-woman from Lincoln County and a 30-year-old woman from Fayette County.

"Remember, this is deadly," Beshear said. "Please get vaccinated and do what you need to protect yourself." He added later, "You don't know how strong the next variant might be; you want to get vaccinated. . . . You want to get your booster."

Beshear said his 11-year-old daughter, Lila, got her Pfizer-BioNTech children's vaccine Monday. "I've waited for this day for a long time." he said. "She's waited for this day; I can't tell you how relieved I am as a parent."

"This is a safe vaccine that is going to give her, and would give your kids, extra protection," Beshear said, adding later, "It's safer when my daughter hugs my parents. It protects everyone they interact with. . . . It can give us all of our world back."

Beshear was asked if he was having conversations with legislators about preventive measures that might need to be taken. He alluded to the lack of response from ruling Republicans to his proposal for bonus pay to Kentuckians who have stayed on the job throughout the pandemic, and said, "Admittedly I'm not having many Covid conversations with legislators at the moment . . . We'll need to have those conversations. . . . Having those at a time when there is greater concern might give us greater opportunity. . . .I know there will be more conversations as we move in that direction."

Two months ago, the legislature passed a law limiting the effect of any emergency pandemic orders by Beshear to 30 days unless approved by the General Assembly.

Lebanon Enterprise Editor Denis House contributed to this report.