Most in Kentucky's federal delegation seem to have done little if anything to promote vaccination, despite request from Beshear

Rep. Brett Guthrie of Bowling Green and Sen. Mitch McConnell have been the Republicans in the state's federal delegation most actively promoting vaccines. (Photo by Alan Warren, Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer)

By Melissa Patrick

Kentucky Health News

By their own account, or lack of it, most Republicans in Kentucky's congressional delegation are doing little or nothing to promote the coronavirus vaccinations, as Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear asked them to. 

On March 18, Beshear sent a letter to the eight members of Kentucky's congressional delegation, asking them to promote the safety and effectiveness of coronavirus vaccines, and to encourage Kentuckians to get one.

Kentucky Health News asked each member of the delegation how they have responded to the governor's request, with the exception of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has been urging audiences to get vaccinated in several stops around the state recently.  

All of the state's delegation are Republicans except Rep. John Yarmuth, D-Louisville. National polling shows that Republicans, especially male Republicans, are more resistant to getting the vaccine. An NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll conducted last month found that 49% of Republican men don't plan to get a coronavirus vaccine, compared with 6% of Democratic men.

Beshear's letter cited similar surveys: a CBS News poll that showed 22 percent of American adults and 33% of Republicans would not get a vaccine when they can, and an Associated Press poll showing 32% of adults and 44% of registered Republicans would either definitely not or probably not. 

"In light of this, it is vital that we do all we can as leaders to encourage our constituents to receive the life-saving vaccine," Beshear wrote. 

He concluded, "I ask for your help in promoting the importance and safety of the vaccines through your social-media accounts and in your public appearances. The more we can all make clear to Kentuckians that receiving the vaccine is a public health issue and not a partisan one, the more lives we will save and the sooner we will be able to return to business as usual in our great commonwealth. Thank you." 

Beshear and President Joe Biden and his appointees have praised McConnell's efforts to encourage Americans to get vaccinated, and most recently with a targeted message for Republican men. 

"I'm a Republican man, and I want to say to everyone, we need to take this vaccine. These reservations need to be put aside," McConnell said at an April 5 news conference in Lexington.

U.S. Rep. Brett Guthrie of the 2nd District told Kentucky Health News he was encouraging Kentuckians to get vaccinated long before that March 18 letter. 

“The governor is late to the game. I have been encouraging Covid-19 vaccines all along," Guthrie said in an e-mail. 

S.K. Bowen, Guthrie's communications director, added that Guthrie has played an active role in the oversight of the nation's pandemic vaccine response, and continues to do so in his role as the Republican leader of the House Energy and Commerce Committee's Health Subcommittee. 

"When encouraging people to receive Covid-19 vaccines, he shares that he knows from his oversight work that vaccines are safe and have been through a rigorous review process without cutting safety corners," she said. 

Guthrie toured vaccine clinics in his district last week, encouraging vaccinations, and was covered by the Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer and Bowling Green's WNKY and WBKO-TV. “We have safe vaccines,” he said in Owensboro. “You can call here today and get your vaccine without a waiting list anymore.”

In Bowling Green, where he lives, Guthrie said, "Whatever your political perspective is, you have presidents on both sides and both parties that have pushed this and promoted it and so therefore, I just encourage everybody to get a vaccine so we can put our masks behind us," 

In Glasgow, he also noted bipartisan support, but gave Republicans an extra nudge: “If you think that it’s a political problem, so you are not going to get vaccinated, that is just not the right way to look at it, because it has been across both administrations. As a matter of fact, most of the work was done under President Trump’s administration, so if you are politically conservative and are concerned about vaccines because of the government, most of this was done under President Trump." 

Yarmuth's communication director, Christopher Schuler, said the Louisville congressman is talking about the importance of vaccination nearly every day, in social media, meetings and public events. 

"He’s been discussing it throughout the pandemic and passage of these relief bills he helped craft, but we were certainly glad to see the governor urging the entire delegation to do more," Schuler said in an e-mail.

Sen. Rand Paul has sparred repeatedly with Dr. Anthony Fauci, most recently about mask wearing by vaccinated people. In an April 5 opinion piece for The Hill, which covers Congress, Paul wrote "I'm in favor of vaccines," but is also in favor of people making their own medical and personal decisions. 

"I’m a Duke Medical School-trained M.D. and I studied immunology before moving on to my career in eye surgery. Vaccines are a marvel of modern medicine, and the speed and effectiveness of the Covid vaccines have been great," he wrote. "I urge everyone to get the vaccine if you think you need or want it. And then I urge everyone in America to throw away their masks, demand their schools be open, and live your lives free of more government mandates and interference."

The other libertarian-leaning Republican in Kentucky's congressional delegation, Rep. Thomas Massie of the 4th District, indicating that he's not promoting vaccines because he's not getting one himself.

"I’m leaving personal medical decisions up to the individuals and won’t be undertaking a vaccine promotion campaign," he said in a email. "It would be somewhat disingenuous for me to do so when I have no plans to receive the vaccine myself, in the absence of data showing that it’s beneficial to those who’ve already recovered from the virus."

Asked about people who haven't been exposed, he replied, "Ultimately, people should listen to their personal doctors. It would be foolish for the general public to take health advice from my cohort of politicians, who are themselves fairly unhealthy, uneducated in science or medicine, don’t think that being $30 trillion in debt is a concern, and are conditioned to say what will most benefit themselves."

The other members of the delegation have been less active or less responsive.

The office of 6th District Rep. Andy Barr noted that he was vaccinated in Washington in December, and posted a video of it on YouTube, but did not provide any recent examples of Barr promoting vaccination.

Comer's Instagram post

Barr is 47. Rep. James Comer of the 1st District, who is 48, said earlier that he would delay getting vaccinated because he didn't want to put himself ahead of constituents in his rural district, which he expected to have "logistical challenges" in vaccine distribution. On March 30, after Beshear opened vaccinations to anyone over 40, Comer posted a picture of his vaccination on Instagram, saying he was "glad to help America recover from Covid-19."

Comer's office didn't provide any other examples of vaccine promotion, other than a March 21 CNN interview on several topics, in which he was asked if he would recommend to his constituents that they be vaccinated, he said "Absolutely. I don't think the government should mandate it, but I do think that everyone should get vaccinated." 

The office of Fifth District Rep. Hal Rogers, 83, said April 12 that it did not respond to receive repeated requests for comment. On Dec. 18, Rogers issued a press release saying that he had been vaccinated: "While many have reservations about the vaccine, I received the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccination today with confidence, knowing that this is the first step for America to beat this pandemic and revive our economy."

Most health experts say a vaccination rate of 75 to 80 percent is needed to reach herd immunity, which provides some protection to people who are unwilling or unable to be vaccinated.

So far, 46% of Kentucky adults have received at least one dose of a vaccine and 30% have been fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Ky. records 1,346 new cases, the most found in one day; Beshear asks local officials to work on mask compliance and gatherings

Kentucky Health News graph, based on unadjusted initial daily reports

By Melissa Patrick

Kentucky Health News

Gov. Andy Beshear's hope for a stabilization in coronavirus cases was crushed Wednesday as he announced 1,346 cases, which brought the unadjusted seven-day rolling average of daily new cases to 937, the state's highest yet.  

Not counting last Wednesday's number of 2,398, which included 1,472 backlogged cases from Fayette County, today's case number sets the record for the most new cases in a single day. 

“Maybe this is a jolt or shock to the system, but everybody ought to be concerned and everybody ought to be doing the right thing," Beshear said. "And those that are out there that try to confront you for wearing a mask, who are being a jerk, that's all they are and they're putting your health at risk. So do the right thing. The vast majority of people are with you. . . . Let's push the complacency out. Let's get some urgency back in." 

Beshear said at his daily briefing that Kentucky is in its third escalation and cautioned that if it doesn't do what it takes to get it under control again, as it did with its last two escalations, that level is going to be "way too high" as we move into the fall and winter. 

The share of Kentuckians testing positive for the virus in the past seven days continues to inch its way back up toward the 5 percent mark. It was 4.72% Wednesday. 

Beshear noted that covid-19 hospitalizations, intensive-care patients and ventilator use all increased since yesterday, with 711 people hospitalized, up from 704 yesterday; 185 in intensive care, up from 170; and 113 on ventilators, up from 90. He said hospital capacity isn't threatened. 

Beshear said he talked to at least 150 mayors and county judge-executives on a morning phone call where they talked about a range of covid-19 topics. He said he made two major pushes: the need for them to continue to push the mask mandate and encourage social gatherings to be kept to 10 or fewer people, because the state is seeing a lot of virus spread at such events. 

"If we can continue to be good about all of the other guidelines that are out there, I think we can stop this new escalation," the governor said. "Those are the two areas where I think we get the biggest impact, where we will see the largest reduction or at least the the best way to stop the escalation." 

Beshear announced seven new deaths from covid-19 on Wednesday, bringing the state's death toll to 1,276. The fatalities include a 76-year-old man from Boyd County; a 76-year-old man from Bullitt County; a 49-year-old woman from Fayette County; a 78-year-old man from Franklin County; an 82-year-old woman from Henderson County; a 76-year-old man from Jefferson County; and an 81-year-old man from Webster County.

He said two of the deaths were veterans who were at the Thomson-Hood Veterans Center in Wilmore. The facility had an outbreak earlier this month and continues to have active cases. The report for all long-term-care facilities shows the center had five more residents and three more staffers test positive for the virus, with 34 active resident cases and 19 active staff cases. 

“Those are now the second and third veterans in our veteran's nursing homes that we have lost. It’s another reason to make sure that we’re doing everything we can to stop the spread of this [virus]," he said.

Health Commissioner Steven Stack announced that four health departments will partner with the state to increase testing in areas that need more: the Purchase District Health Department, serving McCracken, Ballard, Carlisle, Hickman and Fulton counties, the Ashland-Boyd Health Department, serving Boyd, Greenup, Carter and Lawrence counties; the Kentucky River Health Department, serving Lee, Wolfe and Owsley counties; and Lincoln Trail Health Department, serving Hardin, Meade, LaRue, Nelson, Marion, Washington, Breckinridge and Grayson counties. 

In other covid-19 news Wednesday: 

• In long-term care, 77 more residents and 58 new staffers tested positive for the virus, making for active cases among 857 residents and 545 staff, according to the long-term care report. There have been 772 resident deaths and five staff deaths.  
• The K-12 report shows 438 students and 227 staff tested positive for the virus in the past 14 days. 
• The college and university report shows 512 students and four staff tested positive in the past 14 days.
• Of today's new cases, 171 were Kentuckians 18 and under, and 34 of them were five and under.
• Louisville health officials say they have found a demographic shift in coronavirus cases, with more cases now being seen in people between 30 and 50, WDRB reports. "Something we saw early on were people with a lot of co-morbidities, so people who had other health problems underlying," Dr. Sonia Compton said at a news conference Tuesday. "Now, we're seeing people with fewer underlying health issues, people who just might have high blood pressure or people who may just be slightly overweight. And that's a concern."
• A Princeton University study shows detailed videos of speech spittle and offers some good news: face masks can "effectively contain a significant portion of expelled aerosols," and even wearing lip balm can reduce the droplets that form during speaking, reports the Lexington Herald-Leader.  The study is published in the journal Physical Review Fluids. 
• The Co-Immunity Project at the University of Louisville that is researching the spread of the virus in Jefferson County found a "stark disparity" in infection rates in West Louisville, a largely Black community, that needs to be "a clarion call for all of us to work together to neutralize the pernicious influence of systemic and structural causes that sustain and perpetuate such inequities," Aruni Bhatnagar and Ben Chandler of the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky write in an opinion piece for the Courier Journal. 
• According to a Kentucky Hospital Association report, titled "On the Front Lines: The Impact of Covid-19 on Kentucky Hospitals,"  many rural hospitals in Kentucky were already in financial crisis before the pandemic, with between 16 and 28 at risk of closure if their financial situation does not improve. The report says, "The additional strain imposed by covid-19 will exacerbate an already critical financial problem for Kentucky’s rural hospitals."
• MedPage Today honors health-care workers across the nation who have died of covid-19. The list includes Dana Davis, who was an RN at Baptist Health Louisville and Dr. Rebecca Shadowen, an infectious-disease physician in Bowling Green.