Recovery in the Workplace Conference encouraged Kentucky employers to hire people who are in recovery from addiction

More than 150 attended the Recovery in the Workplace Conference. (Ky. Chamber of Commerce photo)

By Melissa Patrick

Kentucky Health News

A June 21 conference to encourage Kentucky businesses to offer second-chance employment to Kentuckians who are in addiction recovery featured stories of success, with advice and resources to help. 

Mark LaPalme, founder and CEO of Isaiah House, a treatment and recovery center, told Kentucky Health News that efforts to help people in recovery involves not only creating a healthy recovery community, but also placing them in healthy communities as part of their next steps. 

"So the first thing that we need to do is instill hope, because that gets them through the next day," LaPalme said. "I think the next thing that we've got to do is work on helping them define their purpose in life. And that involves everybody, you know. . . . So hope, opportunity, purpose, employment and education are really those holistic things that make it all work."

Isaiah House was presenting sponsor of the fourth annual Kentucky Chamber of Commerce Kentucky Recovery in the Workplace Conference in Lexington.

LaPalme encouraged employers to give people in recovery a second chance, saying they are dedicated and articulate "and they will absolutely be your best employees because they're appreciative, they're faithful, and they know that they've been given that second chance or that third chance. So they turn out to be your best employees." 

Van Ingram, executive director of the state Office of Drug Control Policy, opened the conference with an overview of the recent report that showed 2,250 Kentuckians died from a drug overdose in 2021, 14.6% more than in 2020. 

"These are people that didn't have to die," he said. "This is a preventable death. Statistically, six people will die today in the state. . . . We have got to do more."

Ingram discussed several programs supported by his office, including the Chamber's three-day "Fair Chance Academy" to help employers foster second-chance employment. The program  graduated its first class in June, which included 20 business leaders with 20,000 employees. He said "That is huge!"

He also noted recent legislation aimed at getting people in recovery back to work, including one to create "Recovery Ready Communities" that will create a list of programs and services a community needs to support people in recovery, like access to recovery and treatment care, and recovery housing and transportation access. 

"That's how we're going to beat this addiction [crisis], one community at at a time," he said. 

Ingram also pointed to a new law for a pilot program to let low-level offenders in 10 counties who have a substance-use disorder to choose treatment instead of incarceration: "It's a chance for us to show the General Assembly and to show the state that treatment will yield better outcomes than prison."

Morgan Kirk, director of the Kentucky Chamber Foundation Workforce Recovery Program, spoke to the need to get this population back into the workforce, noting that Kentucky ranks 43rd in workforce participation. 

Kirk walked through a list of programs offered by the foundation, including the Kentucky Transformational Employment Program, authorized in 2020 to lessen the risk of liability to employers who hire or retain people with substance-use disorders. So far, she said, 70 businesses have signed up for the program, representing nearly 13,000 employees who could be affected. 

"It's the right thing to do, but it is so good for your business to do this," Kirk said. "We see statistically what a difference it can make when you hire someone who's in recovery or with justice involvement and how much they want to show the gratitude and just show up and be an amazing employee for you." 

Advice from businesses that offer second-chance hiring

A persistent theme among businesses that already offer second-chance hiring is the need for "wrap-around services," such as transportation, housing, and flexibility in traditional workplace policies. 

Rob Perez, founder and owner of Lexington's DV8 Kitchen, which is based on second-chance hiring, talked about his company's journey. One key lesson, he said, was to not be driven by the traditional, transactional rules of business, but to adopt a business model that focuses on relationships.  

"We have gotten to the point where relational leadership is paying dividends," he said, ticking off a list of "amazing results" among its bakery employees, all of whom are in recovery, including an 11-month average tenure, which he called "huge in the restaurant business." 

Jamie Johnson of Dorman Products stressed the need for employers to educate themselves and their employees about the misconceptions around substance-use disorders. In addition, he said his company offers peer support services and created its own Narcotics Anonymous program and allowed some flexibility in scheduling for their employees to attend.

“Don’t fool yourself into believing you’re insulated from this problem because over 70 percent of those struggling with a substance-use disorder are currently working,” Johnson said. “You are a fair chance employer; it’s just whether you admit it or not.”

Rena Sharpe, COO of Goodwill Industries, said her company offers career coaching for their employees and companies that contract with them. Another Goodwill program allows an employee who relapses to sign an agreement saying they are seeking treatment and their job will be waiting on them when they're able to return. 

Patrick Bryant, recruitment manager at AppHarvest, and Johnson talked about creating a culture that invites this population to apply for a job. Bryant stressed that it's important for people to be able to look at your "career page" and know they are welcome to apply. 

"There's a lot of people out there with criminal records or in addiction recovery and they're ashamed. They're scared. They don't want to come forward, " he said. "But if you give them that opportunity . . . invite them by having it on your career page that you're a fair chance employer, that's going to help them take the first step." 

Support systems, well-paying jobs needed

Alex Elswick, founder of Voices of Hope and assistant extension professor at the University of Kentucky, talked about his "privilege" of having all kinds of "recovery capital," resources and supports, available to him. His parents' church found him a home, one of his father's patients found him a job, and he was able to see a therapist. 

“There’s really nothing special about my addiction, but in so many ways there’s something special about my recovery. Because I had access to the things I needed." 

Elswick expanded on the value of being offered that first job after coming out of recovery.

"I didn't deserve it. I didn't earn it. It wasn't based on an illustrious CV or resume. I didn't even have a resume," he said. "But somebody gave me an opportunity and it made all the difference in my life because as soon as I had a job, I had benefits. I had health insurance and since I had health insurance, I could meet with a therapist." 

Lisa Lourie, owner and CEO of Spy Coast Farm, said she supports her employees from the Blackburn Correctional Facility with some basic items before they leave the facility by making sure they have appropriate clothing to come to work in. Further, she said she ensures that they had housing and transportation. 

Kim Moore, founder and CEO of Joshua Community Connectors, a grant-funded community building project in Louisville that works on issues of mental health, housing and employment, also talked about the value of support systems in her road to long-term recovery.  She has been sober for 24 years, according to her short biography. 

"I stand here today . . . because I had supportive services," she said. "I'm who I am because people believed in me, people pushed me." 

LaPalme opened the conference by talking  about the need for second-chance employees to have well-paying jobs. He also said it is time to get rid of the "scourge" in the treatment industry of hiring interns who have gone through the residential part of a program and paying them less than the minimum wage and calling it a stipend, a practice not allowed at Isaiah House. He said the practice keeps them "tied to food stamps and keeps them on Medicaid." 

Moore also talked about the need for well-paying jobs, saying that you have to pay a person more than they can make selling drugs if you want them to move away from that lifestyle.

At term's midpoint, Beshear reflects on pandemic work, saying he wishes he had prepared Kentuckians for a longer fight

Andy Beshear

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

As Gov. Andy Beshear passed the mid-point of his four-year term, he spent time with Kentucky Health News to discuss Kentucky's health issues, how he's handled the pandemic, and what he would do over if he had the chance. 

Beshear said he is comfortable with the decisions he's made, given the information he had when he made them. But he said if he had known how long the war against Covid would last, he would have been able to better prepare Kentuckians to understand that they would need to change their lives and lifestyles for a longer period of time than he or they expected. 

"If you can go back to March of 2020, we will have talked about it as a war and about how wars are not fought in weeks, they are fought in years, and that we needed to get ready for a long, drawn-out fight where we would lose a significant number of people, but then we would have more tools and abilities to fight back," he said. "I think preparing people for a longer period of war is something that if I could go back and do over again, I would." 

Kentucky is seeing coronavirus cases and Covid-19 hospitalizations rise again, after recording more than 800,000 cases and more than 11,000 deaths since the first Kentucky case was identified in early March 2020. 

"Being a governor in the time of Covid is being a wartime governor," Beshear said. "And this is certainly taking more lives than any war that Kentucky's ever participated in." 

Leaders of the Republican-run legislature have criticized Beshear for not consulting them about pandemic decisions, and in September stripped him of much of his ability to manage the pandemic.

Asked if he would have worked differently with Republicans, he said, "The talking points that the Republicans kept trying to say about not being consulted are simply false," because members of his administration testified more than 70 times at legislative committee hearings. 

"Out of those hearings, I never received a call from leadership to talk about what we were doing in Covid-19," he said. "Those leaders sat in my office and talked about other things."  

Beshear said Republican leaders have said that going through committees is the way to handle such proposals, noting that they turned down his offer to discuss his plan to use $400 million in federal pandemic-relief money to reward essential workers, saying that should be addressed by the committee process. 

Asked why he turned down Republican leaders' offer to provide staff to help with an avalanche of unemployment claims, Beshear said their staffers weren't trained for the work, and it would have taken six months to train them. "If those individuals had been fully trained, we would have taken them in a moment's notice," he said. 

Beshear has said that if he had the authority, he would require universal masking in schools to fight the current surge in cases, but he told Lawrence Smith of Louisville's WDRB that he probably would not impose another statewide mask mandate, as he did in July 2020, if he had the power.

"It certainly wouldn't be broad," he said. "We'd look at the right situations where it needs to be done. We'd certainly look at very large events where there are thousands or tens of thousands of people indoors."

Beshear told Kentucky Health News that his July 2020 order showed "a strong executive branch, a governor willing to make the tough, unpopular decision, requiring masking when it was necessary. It was going to save lives. When the legislature then had the final call, what did you see? They claimed they wanted to be consulted, but they wouldn't and didn't make a decision. They simply punted the ball to local communities that face more pressure than anybody else. So I think time and reality have proven that to be just what it was -- a talking point, and nothing else." 

And contrary to what some may think, Beshear said the pandemic has expanded access to health care for many Kentuckians because of access to "pandemic Medicaid" that made it easier for people to sign up for the free coverage; a Medicaid campaign that targeted minorities who suffered disproportionate rates of infection and death early in the pandemic; and the addition of doctors, nurses and clinics where needed.

The governor said that while it's important to address the immediate health crisis, it's also important to consider funding solutions that address Kentuckians' physical and mental health going forward.

"I think where we have to be in this next budget is first solving our immediate issues that we're facing," he said. "The number one mission has to be to retain and ultimately to hire more social workers. But that doesn't mean that we wait to start funding longer-term prevention programs."

He said that could include efforts to prevent child abuse, programs like the home-visiting program for pregnant women and new parents to support infant development, school-health programs or efforts to prevent the many health conditions that plague Kentuckians, like diabetes, heart and lung disease.

In an effort to retain social workers, Beshear announced Wednesday that they would receive a 10% pay raise this month. He also announced a pilot program to expedite the hiring of qualified social workers, as well as several programs aimed at recruitment and retention that will need legislative approval.

Beshear acknowledged that many of Kentucky's health issues, like substance-use disorder, diabetes and the many diseases caused by smoking, have been more challenging to address during the pandemic, but said that doesn't mean they haven't been addressed, especially with increased access to telemedicine.

"Getting healthier is critical to this economic roll that we are on," he said. "As we look at a record-shattering year, we'll pass the record for new jobs, one of our major workforce issues is disability, is being too sick or too hurt to work, and we've got to lessen the number of people who fall into those categories."

'Functionally 100%' of new coronavirus cases this month have been among the unvaccinated; back-to-work incentive offered

Washington Post chart, adapted by Kentucky Health News; for a larger version, click on it.

By Al Cross

Kentucky Health News

Making what they called the best argument for vaccination against the coronavirus, Gov. Andy Beshear and his health commissioner said Thursday that only 0.08 percent of recent virus cases in Kentucky are in people who have received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine.

At his weekly press conference, Beshear also announced a back-to-work incentive for Kentuckians getting extra unemployment benefits due to the pandemic, and a $763 million allocation of federal pandemic relief funds to child-care centers. Here are the details:

Vaccinations: Health Commissioner Steven Stack said 99.92% of the state's virus cases in the last four weeks, six out of 7,290, were in unvaccinated people. "That is functionally a hundred percent," he said. During the same period, unvaccinated people were 99 percent of those people hospitalized for Covid-19, and 93 percent of the deaths from the disease.

But only 49% of Kentucky's population has had at least one dose of vaccine, and just 42.5% are fully vaccinated, figures similar to states where the Delta variant of the virus is causing more hospitalizations.

"We've got to continue to talk about the vaccines," Beshear said. "The Delta variant's out there, and the threat is very real." He said the 99% figures presented by Stack "ought to be some of the best evidence for everybody who's qualified going out and getting vaccinated."

Stack said the variant, which originated in India and is expected to become dominant in the U.S., is more contagious than others, but only slightly more resistant to vaccines, which are 88% effective against death or severe disease from the variant.

"If you get vaccinated, you have essentially got a 90-percent-plus reduction in your risk for death and serious disease and going in the hospital," Stack said. "The new Delta variant is dangerous; it's more dangerous for younger people than the previous versions. We're gonna see more younger people get hurt. . . . Your risk is incredibly reduced if you get vaccinated." 

Stack noted that new coronavirus cases in Kentucky have declined for seven weeks in a row, much as new cases around the world have dropped for eight straight weeks, and said, "This is the result of vaccination, hands down, pure and simple. Vaccines did this."

State Dept. for Public Health graph, adapted by Ky. Health News; for a larger version, click on it.

Stack noted that the first of three drawings in the state's lottery-style sweepstakes for vaccinated people will be held next week, with the entry deadline Wednesday night. He said 472,938 adults had entered for a chance at $1 million, and 26,636 youth, ages 12-17, had entered for a full postsecondary-education scholarship, five of which will be awarded in each drawing.

He said those numbers create "way better odds" than the state lottery, and he hopes they inspire people to get a shot. "I hope, though, they're even more inspired by the fact that 100 percent of the people getting sick now in Kentucky are ones who are not vaccinated."

Vaccinations are lagging again; the seven-day average is below 10,000 a day. Beshear said signups for the drawings indicate that they have spurred vaccination, but it's hard if not impossible to tell how much. He said Ohio saw a boost when its drawings were announced, and when its first drawing was held.

Asked what the state might do about the possibility of the virus spreading from a free J.D. Shelburne concert Saturday in Spencer County, which has the state's second-lowest vaccination rate, Beshear said he was unaware of the event, but said the county's vaccinations may be under-reported due to ZIP code areas crossing county lines. Stack agreed, but said that even without the anomaly, the county would still have one of the lower vaccination rates.

Unemployment benefits: After weeks of requests from businesses and demands from Republicans, the Democratic governor said the state would give $1,500 each to the first 15,000 Kentuckians who are getting extra unemployment benefits of $300 a week and go back to work for four weeks. Critics have said the federally funded payments, which will expire Sept. 30, are keeping people from going back to work at a time when employers are having difficulty finding workers.

The governor said he has discussed the issue daily with business people, who he said have always thought a back-to-work payment would do more to get people back in the labor force than ending the payments, which some Republican governors have done. "This is meant to be surgical," he said. Details are at btw.ky.gov.

Beshear said the program will cost $22.5 million, which will come from funds the state has yet to spend from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act that Congress passed in bipartisan votes last year. He said the parameters were chosen to get one-fourth of those receiving the extra benefit back onto payrolls, and to equal five weeks of the extra benefit, which "gets you real close" to Sept. 30. He said he could still end the benefits before that date, based on his monitoring of the situation and the experience of other states.

State House Speaker David Osborne said the incentive is “extremely insulting to those who have worked throughout this pandemic. It defies logic that they would choose to do so as long as the additional federal payments are available. . . . The fact there are more than a hundred thousand available jobs, many of which already offer starting bonuses, should serve as plenty of incentive without a one-time payment.”

Child care: The money for child care will come from the American Rescue Plan Act, passed with only Democratic votes. A state press release said $470 million will go to "sustainability payments" to child-care providers and $293 million will be used to increase provider payments, improve payment policies, raise wages for early-childhood educators and family child-care homes; and increase "the number of quality child care options for under-served populations."

Cabinet for Health and Family Services Secretary Eric Friedlander said the state will leave the pandemic with more small family providers of child care than it had going in, "so it is possible to work together to get a better spot. . . . I am so happy, and the child-care providers are so happy, that we now understand how important they are. They are vital to all of us getting back to work."

Families can apply for assistance at kynect.ky.gov. Information is also available at local offices of the Department for Community Based Services, where applications are also accepted.

Daily numbers: All major measures of the pandemic in Kentucky continued to decline Thursday. The state reported 204 new cases of the virus, lowering the seven-day rolling average by 7, to 174. The share of Kentuckians testing positive over the last seven days is 1.85%, the lowest on record, and the daily new-case rate over the last seven days is 3.22 per 100,000 residents.

Counties with rates more than double the statewide rate are Bracken, 20.6; Caldwell, 17.9; Hopkins, 16; Webster, 13.2; Graves, 10; Anderson, 9.4; Letcher, 8.6; Simpson, 8.5; Gallatin, 8.1; Morgan, 7.5; Carter, 7.5; Leslie, 7.2; Casey, 7.1; Greenup, 6.9; and Pike, 6.7.

The state recorded four Covid-19 deaths Thursday, bringing Kentucky's toll to 7,200. Deaths have been in single digits for the last 13 days, and no more than four have been reported for the last nine days. Deaths are averaging 3.14 per day over the last seven says and 4.43 a day over the last 14 days. The state has stopped listing individual deaths.

Coronavirus vaccinations being delivered at an increasing rate; Beshear says state incentives are helping, not sure how much

Washington Post graphic, adapted by Ky. Health News; interactive chart and methodology are here.

By Al Cross

Kentucky Health News

Vaccination for the coronavirus is on the rise in Kentucky, as the state's seven-day rolling average of daily shots has risen to more than 16,500 after falling below 10,000 per day two weeks ago.

At his first regular non-pandemic press conference yesterday, Gov. Andy Beshear said more than 437,000 vaccinated Kentuckians had signed up for lottery-style sweepstakes drawings for three $1 million prizes and 15 postsecondary education scholarships.

Asked how much impact he thought the incentives were having, Beshear said they are having an effect, but "I admit it's hard to tell how much of an impact they're making, because we don't know how many people would be signing up otherwise."

He said he would like to see more vaccinated 12-to-17-year-olds enter the scholarship drawing than the 23,080 who have signed up. He said the state is doing better among adults that Ohio did in its first two weeks of similar incentives, but not as well as Ohio did with young people. He said his son Will, who turned 12 Tuesday, got vaccinated Wednesday.

State chart shows cumulative vaccination numbers. Click it to enlarge.

Beshear said he hoped the first of three drawings, to be held July 2, would stimulate more interest. Noting the signup numbers, he said, "Those are the best odds you're ever gonna get at winning a million dollars or getting a free ride to higher education." Sign up at Vaccine.ky.gov by July 1 for the first drawing. Signing up also makes you eligible for the later drawings.

Private groups are also offering incentives. Beshear noted that vaccinated people can get free tickets to the weekly Troubadour Concert Series at Cardome in Georgetown, sponsored by High Bridge Springs Water and Wild Health, which will be on hand to provide vaccinations.

Beshear said he is the first Kentucky governor to have a standing schedule of press conferences, to be held each Thursday at 12:30 ET.

"After 15 long months of fighting the pandemic and hosting more than 250 news conferences to keep Kentuckians to keep Kentuckians up to date, I know that making sure you have an opportunity to hear regularly from your governor or other state leaders is important. And we cannot forget we're still fighting this pandemic."

Pandemic-related issues came up in questions at the event.

Asked why he thinks the state has a significant labor shortage, Beshear said part of the reason is the extra unemployment benefits of $300 a week that most Republican governors have ended and that businesses in Kentucky have asked him to end. But that was the last reason he cited; the others were a shortage of child care and reluctance of people to take jobs that require face-to-face contact with the public at a time when less than half the population has had a vaccination.

But he said he is working on a "back to work bonus incentive" that he hopes to announce next week, and he said in response to another question that there is a possibility he could end the $300 weekly benefit before its federal funding expires at the end of September. The Kentucky Chamber of Commerce asked May 28 that Beshear end it by July; 30 days' notice is required to stop it.

Republicans have been hammering on the Democratic governor about the Beshear said he is "trying to thread the needle. . . . I'm the first to say that we can't have everybody looking for a job at the end of September."

Beshear said the state still has $200 million in federal relief money to help people pay rent and utilities, more than two-thirds of the $297 million it received. He said that surprises him, since so many people were financially affected by the pandemic. The money can pay 12 months of back bills and three months forward.

Daily numbers: The state reported 255 new cases of the coronavirus Thursday, lowering the seven-day rolling average to 216 cases per day, the lowest since last July 4, just before a surge in cases began. The average has dropped by more than 100 in the last week.

The daily new-case rate for the last seven days is 3.83 per 100,000. Counties with rates more than double that rate are Webster, 21 per 100,000; Perry, 20.5; Elliott, 17.1; Graves, 15.3; Hopkins, 11.5; Livingston, 10.9; Mason, 10; Fleming, 9.8; Carter, 9.1; Breathitt, 9; Union, 8.9; Bracken, 8.6; Knox, 8.3; Gallatin, 8.1; Grant, 8; and Letcher, 8.

    

The share of Kentuckians testing positive for the virus in the last seven days is 2.06 percent, about where it has been for more than a week.

Hospitalization numbers continue to decline slowly or remain fairly stable. Kentucky hospitals reported 229 Covid-19 patients Thursday, 66 of them in intensive care and 36 of those on a ventilator.

The state reported three Covid-19 deaths Thursday, bringing its toll to 7,178. Deaths are also declining; over the last 14 days, they have averaged 7.2 per day; in the last seven days, the average is 5.7 per day.

As case numbers and positive-test rates tick up, Beshear warns a fourth wave is possible, pleads with Kentuckians to get a vaccine

Kentucky Health News graph from initial, unadjusted daily case reports

By Melissa Patrick

Kentucky Health News

Citing rising case numbers and percentage of positive tests, Gov. Andy Beshear said Thursday, “It is at least a warning that a fourth wave is possible here. . . . We can prevent it. We should prevent it. It requires people to get vaccinated and continue to mask up."

 

The state reported 834 new cases of the coronavirus on Thursday, bringing the seven-day rolling average to 614, which is higher than yesterday, but lower than Tuesday (although that included last week's backlog). The average is now what it was on March 25. 

"There's reason to be concerned, with so many other states seeing an uptick in cases," Beshear said. "We are so close to the end, and . . . now that we have vaccines, there's no excuse not to get everyone to the finish line. Let's make sure that a family doesn't have to grieve because we weren't willing to wear a mask for the last month, month and a half, we weren't willing to do what it takes to get there; we weren't willing to get our own vaccine, not because we were against it, but we just didn't think this thing would hurt us in particular. Let's make sure that we continue to do the right things." 

Beshear said 166 of Thursday's new cases were in Kentuckians 18 and younger, and that 47 of those were between 16 and 18, an age-group that recently became eligible for vaccination. 

The percentage of Kentuckians testing positive for the virus in the past seven days is "ticking up and up and up," said Beshear. Thursday, it was 3.45%, higher for the sixth day in a row. 

The seven-day average of daily new cases has gone up nine days in a row, from a low of 9 cases per 100,000 residents on April 6. On Thursday, that rate was 12.23 cases per 100,000 people, the highest it's been since mid-March. The New York Times data tracker ranks Kentucky's rate 35th among the states.

Counties with rates double the statewide rate were Bracken, 55.1 cases per 100,000 residents; Lewis, 47.4; Bath, 43.4; Harlan, 39; Mason, 34.3; Wolfe, 33.9; Robertson, 27.1; Morgan, 26.8; and Todd, 24.4.

Hospital numbers were down a bit today, but Beshear noted that they starting to trend up a bit. In Kentucky 416 people are hospitalized with Covid-19, four fewer than yesterday, with 102 of them in intensive care (down 13); and 49 of those on a ventilator (down two). 

Two of the hospital readiness regions have 80% or more of their intensive-care beds occupied: Lake Cumberland, at 80% and the easternmost region, from Pike County to Lee County, at 83.8%. 

Beshear said 1,662,924 Kentuckians have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, with 46% of those 16 and older having received at least one dose, and 48% of those 18 and older. 

Beshear has said he will lift capacity limits on most businesses and activities when 2.5 million Kentuckians receive at least one dose of a vaccine, which is 70% of the state's adult population.  

"We're not trying to set a goal to force anybody to do something, that just is when it becomes safer," he said. "It's math and science. Math and science aren't political." 

He said 877,076 more Kentuckians are needed to reach that goal, and with 499,735 doses of the Pfizer BioNTech and Moderna vaccines available this week, "We can get more than halfway of the distance left to get to our 2.5-million vaccination challenge and lift restrictions this week if everybody would go out and sign up." 

That would be almost a quadrupling of the state's recent vaccination rate. Over the last three weeks, 125,000 to 130,000 Kentuckians were vaccinated each week. 

In noting vaccination sites with many open slots, he pointed to the Christian County Health Department, which serves in a county that has state's second- lowest rate of fully vaccinated people: 12.4%, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Spencer County remains last, at 11.1%. Woodford County has the highest rate, 37%. 

Beshear stressed that there are thousands of vaccine slots available in every region of the state. Click here to find a location near you. "Remember, we are in a race against these variants," he said. "We have to vaccinate and as quickly as possible."

Calling it a miracle, Beshear noted that vaccines have virtually eliminated Covid-related deaths in long-term care facilities. He added that deaths in all congregate settings, which include prisons, have dropped from 68% of the state's total at one time to under 38%. 

The governor reported only four new resident cases and six new staff cases in long-term care facilities, for a total of 48 active resident and 79 active staff cases. He reported no new deaths. So far, there have been 2,281 Covid-related deaths in long-term care. 

Beshear reported 17 new deaths from the virus on Thursday, all of them from regular health-department reports and none from an ongoing audit of death certificates. That brings the total to 6,302.

The fatalities included two Barren County men, 40 and 61; a Bell County woman, 66; a Caldwell County woman, 49; a Clinton County woman, 83; a Cumberland County man, 89; A Garrard County man, 83; a Grayson County man, 70; a Henderson County woman, 73; a Jessamine County woman, 61; a Laurel County woman, 68; a Madison County man, 63; a Meade County woman, 68; a Mercer County woman, 85; a Muhlenberg County woman, 44; a Pike County man, 56; and a Whitley County woman, 83. 

Gill Scott

Memorial: Today, Beshear honored the life of Gill Scott, who died from Covid-19 on March 26. Beshear said Scott was one of nine children and was born and raised in Adair County. He moved to Louisville as a teenager, where he met and married his wife of 60 years, Mary. Beshear said Scott loved his family, the outdoors and God. 

"Remember, these are the souls that we lose right now in the fourth quarter in defeating this virus. If we let up, we lose somebody special," Beshear said.

Based on CDC data that estimates the biweekly prevalence of variant cases among more than 40,000 genomic sequences done Jan. 3 to March 27, Becker's Hospital Review reports that the proportion of the highly contagious B.1.1.7 variant, first identified in the United Kingdom, is 18.7 percent in Kentucky. It is the dominant variant in the U.S.

Using the CDC data tracker, Becker's ranks Kentucky 19th in percentage of distributed vaccines that have been administered, 80.46%. It ranks Kentucky 21st for percentage of residents fully vaccinated, 24.87%.

In other pandemic news Thursday: 

• Counties with 10 or more new cases were Jefferson, 149; Fayette, 54; Warren, 49; Daviess, 33; Henderson, 29; Boone, 24; Kenton, 20; Harlan, 18; Christian, 17; McCracken, 16; Hardin and Mason, 14; Bracken and Oldham, 13; Clark and Knox, 12; Pulaski, 11; and Jessamine, Logan and Whitley, 10. 
• Alex Acquisto of the Lexington Herald-Leader takes a deep dive into the myths and challenges faith leaders in Harlan County have dealt with as they work to get their followers vaccinated. “A lot of people are worried about control. That the mask mandate, the social distancing, right down to the vaccine [are ways] they think that the government is out to control them,” Sean Daniels, pastor at Friendship Missionary Baptist Church in Cawood, told Acquisto. “People really don’t like to be told what to do.”
• The Herald-Leader offers tips on to avoid scammers who are targeting Americans who need help paying for funeral expenses for loved ones who have died from Covid-19. 
• McClatchy News reports that a top Food and Drug Administration scientist has said that coronavirus vaccines should provide protection against Covid-19 for at least nine months, and a booster shot may become necessary after that. 
• Sarah Ladd of the Louisville Courier Journal writes about what the pause in Johnson & Johnson vaccine means for Kentucky. 
• University of Louisville researchers have received $8.6 million from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for coronavirus wastewater research, WDRB reports. Researchers are already testing wastewater for coronavirus in Jefferson County, which will help them estimate how many people in the neighborhoods being tested have the virus. “This could revolutionize the way we track and contain pandemics, and not just Covid-19,” said Aruni Bhatnagar, a U of L professor of medicine. “It gives us an invaluable tool that could offer a clearer view of where and how the virus spreads.”
• The CDC told CNN that about 5,800 out of nearly 77 million people vaccinated for the coronavirus have contracted Covid-19 afterward. Of those, 396 have required hospitalization and 74 have died. CNN reports that the CDC will be looking for clues about who is most prone to become re-infected despite having been vaccinated. "Vaccine-breakthrough infections were reported among all people of all ages eligible for vaccination. However, a little over 40% of the infections were in people 60 or more years of age," the CDC said. Questioned about Kentucky, Beshear said he did not have an exact number of "breakthrough" cases in the state, but said there had been "a couple."
• Click here for Thursday's press release that includes an unemployment-insurance update, including information about the 13 regional career centers opening to in-person appointments, federal tax refunds, and the temporary shutdown for security reasons over last weekend.
  

As vaccines go begging, Beshear says doses need to go where people are, and local leaders need to urge folks to get a shot

State table shows how supply of vaccines has exceeded demand for vaccinations recently.

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

Almost every coronavirus-related question at Gov. Andy Beshear's news briefing Thursday ended with a call from him to get vaccinated, and that came after repeated pleas in his relatively short presentation for Kentuckians to sign up for one of the thousands of open vaccination slots across the state.

"While we vaccinated 125,210 new Kentuckians this last week, we received about 214,000 doses. So what that means is there are open appointments . . . not because we're not vaccinating still at a steady pace, but because we're getting more vaccine," Beshear said, "so we need people to get out there and to sign up." 

Beshear again listed regional vaccine sites with thousands of slots available next week, including U of L Health at Cardinal Stadium, with more than 11,000 slots open; Kroger Health at Greenwood Mall in Bowling Green (2,000); and the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington (1,800); Baptist Health Corbin; the Christian County Health Department (1,000); and Pikeville Medical Center (1,000). 

He pleaded with Kentuckians to take whatever vaccine is available, and not wait for the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine, saying Kentucky only got 7,800 doses of that vaccine this week, a drop from 65,000 last week, and state officials don't know how many it will get in the upcoming weeks. 

State table of variants by county; for a larger version, click on it.

He said if people "wait on the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, we might not win the race against the variants" of the virus that are more contagious and "It's going to take us longer to be able to fully ease the restrictions that we all want to get rid of. So come on, get out there, get your vaccine."

Beshear said so far, the state has detected 113 cases with "variants of concern" in Kentucky. All but two were the highly contagious B.1.1.7, which was first found in the United Kingdom. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website says 1,085 cases in Kentucky have undergone genomic testing to detect variants.

More than 1.5 million Kentuckians have received at least one dose of a vaccine, about 33% of the population. 

Reluctance to get the vaccine has been reported to be more common among rural whites, especially evangelicals, and urban Blacks.

Sarah Ladd and Chris Kenning of the Louisville Courier Journal report that the real reason vaccinations have lagged among Kentucky Blacks are lack of access, including things like "little or no transportation, no internet access, few if any nearby pharmacies and struggles trying to sign up online." 

Kentucky Health News asked Beshear if these are some of the reasons rural whites have been slow to get vaccinated, or if it had to do more with politics. Beshear said that while there are some similarities between rural and urban areas, there are also other nuances that must be recognized. 

He said some parts of the state have shown some higher hesitancy, naming Western Kentucky as one. 

He suggested it is time to try some new strategies, like programs that offer incentives for vaccination and getting more doses into places people regularly go to, such as pharmacies and grocery stores. 

The politics can be local, he said: "Some of the areas where we see the least amount of people taking vaccines are ones where we saw local leaders push back against what we were doing to protect people" earlier in the pandemic. "If you see enough of that, and someone is beating that drum beat long enough, again, it's going to make it harder to then convince people to get vaccinated. And so we're going to need help, both from those that have disagreed with us as we've gone along and those that have agreed with us to get it done."

Beshear suggested that on Monday, he would give Kentuckians a broad incentive to get a shot: set a vaccination level at which he would remove capacity restrictions, even for events of up to 1,000 people. 

"We still may be needing to wear masks, whether it's our restaurants, our bars, our offices and the rest, [but] we can get back to that 100 percent capacity," he said, "and it's all dependent on how quickly and how many people we can vaccinate."

Beshear said he thought if done safely and masking is strictly enforced, it will be safe to attend the Kentucky Derby on May 1, and he plans on being there. He also encouraged people to go ahead and get vaccinated now if they plan on being there, or anywhere that involves large crowds. 

"That ought to be on anybody's checklist who is planning on going," he said. 

Beshear said the state is tailoring some of its efforts toward young people, who he said weren't necessarily vaccine-hesitant, but more likely indifferent because the virus has not affected their age group as harshly. He noted that young people in other states have been hospitalized with variants.

Asked about a study, published in The Lancet Psychiatry journal, that shows one in three people who have had Covid-19 have suffered a neurological or psychiatric disorder within six months of infection with the virus, Beshear said he was still looking at the study, and that he expects there will be many more like it. He  also noted that Health Commissioner Steven Stack has warned all along that we don't know the long-term effects of having Covid-19. 

"Again, it has real health impacts. So get vaccinated, continue to wear your mask until we get to the end. And don't be cavalier, because while you may think that it's not going to hurt you the person you could spread it to could be could be suffering from this," he said.

Daily numbers: Beshear reported 645 new cases of the virus, bringing the state's seven-day average to 529, the lowest it's been since Aug. 11, when it was 528.

The share of Kentuckians testing positive for the virus in the past seven days was 2.81%, almost equal to the recent low of 2.8% on March 26 and 27. 

In long-term care, Beshear reported no new Covid-19 deaths, and only six new cases, five of them among employees. "That is the power of vaccinations," he said, referring to the fact that significantly more residents than employees have been vaccinated.

The state added 16 deaths to its list of Covid-19 fatalities. The state's death toll from the disease is 6,214. The 14-day average of regularly reported deaths is 11.6 a day, half what it was two and a half weeks ago.

The state said all 16 deaths were from regular health-department reports and none from the death-certificate audit. However, 10 of them were from 2020, with two dated in July. UPDATE, April 11: The Cabinet for Health and Family Services said nine of the 16 deaths were actually from the audit, which recently went farther back into 2020. "The first of these cases were incorrectly classified Thursday as regular rather than audit deaths because of the pathway through which they were submitted," cabinet spokeswoman Susan Dunlap said in an email.

The July fatalities were both from Jefferson County: a 64-year-old man and a 59-year-old woman. Later in 2020 were three Jefferson County women, 73, 80 and 87; two Jefferson County men, 61 and 72; a Laurel County woman, 77; an Oldham County man, 45; and a Carroll County man, 41.

All the 2021 fatalities on the daily death report were listed as occurring after March 19. They were a Christian County man, 68; a Daviess County man, 54; two Hopkins County women, 73 and 88; a Hopkins County man, 62; an an Ohio County man, 76.  

Unemployment: The state Labor Cabinet said it would shut the state's unemployment system for four days, starting at midnight Thursday to fight a "massive amount of fraud" that is affecting unemployment systems across the nation.

"We hate that we have to do this, to make things more difficult, but these criminals are relentless; they will not stop," said Amy Cubbage, Beshear's general counsel. 

During the shutdown, no new claims can be filed and claimants will be unable to request benefits. Staff will continue to work on existing claims. 

Cubbage said there have been attempts to change 300,000 personal identification numbers on claimants' accounts, not all of them current accounts.  

Claimants will need to set up new accounts next week with a new eight-digit PIN  that they will receive in by U.S. mail, as well as a new 12-digit password. Cubbage said active claimants will not need to file new claims.

In other pandemic news Thursday:

• The state's daily new-case rate over the past seven days was 9.67 per 100,000 residents, 0.1 less than Wednesday. Its rate ranked 34th among the states, according to The New York Times.
• Counties with rates more than double the statewide rate were Simpson, 43.8; Harlan, 29.1; McCreary, 28.2; Bracken, 27.5; Whitley, 27.2; Powell, 26.6; Floyd, 22.5; Knox, 22; Menifee, 22; Robertson, 20.3; Allen, 20.1; Mason, 20.1; Lawrence, 19.6; and Casey, 19.4.
• Counties with 10 more more new cases on the state's daily report were: Jefferson, 125; Fayette, 43; Clark, 23; Warren, 19; Boone, 18; McCracken, 16; Kenton, 14; Letcher, 14; Hardin, 13; Christian, 12; Harlan, 12; Floyd, Logan, Madison and Simpson, 11; and Allen, Daviess and Powell, 10.
• Kentucky hospitals reported 377 Covid-19 patients, six fewer than Wednesday, with 102 of them in intensive care (down 10) and 53 of those on ventilators (down 13).

Virus case numbers keep falling, but reporting may have been limited; Covid-19 hospital cases, ICU and ventilator use are up

By Al Cross

Kentucky Health News

Some key measures of the pandemic in Kentucky continued to fall Tuesday, but it remains to be seen how much that has to do with testing labs being closed during Easter weekend.

The state reported 344 new cases of the novel coronavirus Tuesday, well under than half the number reported last Tuesday. That reduced the seven-day rolling average of new cases by almost 10 percent, to 538 per day. That is the lowest average since Aug. 11, almost eight months ago, but Gov. Andy Beshear said Monday that it would be "hard to tell what's going on until Wednesday" because of lab closures.

The statewide rate of daily new cases in the last seven days fell to 9 per 100,000 residents. Counties with rates more than twice the state rate were Simpson, 48.5; Powell, 38.1; McCreary, 31.5; Whitley, 28; Morgan, 21.5; Allen, 20.8; Robertson, 20.3; Knox, 19.7; Floyd, 19.7; Lee, 19.3; Mason, 19.2; and Metcalfe, 18.4.

Counties with more than five new cases were Jefferson, 56; Christian, 22; Scott, 17; Carter, 16; Fayette, 12; Laurel, 11; Pulaski, 10; Harlan, 9; Boone, Floyd and Pike, 8; Hardin and McCreary, 7; and Daviess and McCracken, 6.

The percentage of Kentuckians testing positive for the virus in the last seven days stayed stable, at 2.89%, but hospital numbers were up.

Kentucky hospitals reported 376 Covid-19 patients, 23 more than Monday; 116 of them were in intensive care, 19 more than Monday; and 57 were on ventilators, 11 more than Monday.

The state added eight more deaths to its list of Covid-19 fatalities, four from regular health-department reports and four from the ongoing audit of death certificates. The state's death toll from the disease is 6,184.

Beshear's press release quoted him on one topic: vaccinations. “If you haven’t gotten your Covid-19 vaccine yet, look at our list of where you can get your shot of hope this week, at vaccinemap.ky.gov. If you’ve already been vaccinated, reach out to one friend or family member who is still trying to get signed up and see if you can help them. This is an all-hands-on-deck effort. We are in a race against harmful Covid-19 variants that could threaten the progress we’ve all sacrificed so much to achieve.”

President Biden asked Americans to wait until July 4 to resume normal activities, pointing to increasing case and hospitalization numbers in many states, especially among young adults. "We're still in a life and death race against this virus," he said. "The virus is spreading because we have too many people who see the end in sight and think we're at the finish line already. Let me tell you deadly seriously: We're not."

Unemployment insurance: Beshear announced that in-person services for unemployment benefits will open April 15 at more than a dozen regional sites, by appointment only. At 1 p.m. EDT Wednesday, April 7, Kentuckians can begin scheduling appointments at kcc.ky.gov for weekday appointments April 15-30. The sites are in Ashland, Bowling Green, Covington, Elizabethtown, Hazard, Hopkinsville, Lexington, Louisville, Morehead, Owensboro, Paducah, Prestonsburg and Somerset.

A photo ID will be required to enter, and temperatures will be taken before entering. Anyone attending an appointment must wear a mask at all times. "Accommodations will not be made for those without appointments," a press release from Beshear's office said. "While staff make every effort to answer all questions during this appointment, UI specialists may not be able to provide a resolution during a single appointment. Some claims could require additional paperwork or take additional time to complete. An additional appointment will not be necessary."

In other pandemic news Tuesday:

• The regularly reported Covid-19 deaths were an Allen County man, 91, on April 4; a Boyle County woman, 83, Jan. 14; a Fayette County woman, 84, Dec. 20; a Hopkins County man, 79, March 31; a Jefferson County woman, 63, April 3; a Laurel County woman, 80, April 1; and a Warren County woman, 92, Dec. 2.
• The Covid-19 deaths found by audit were a Greenup County woman, 83, on Nov. 20; a Jefferson County woman, 82, on Nov. 11; three Jefferson County men: 71, on Nov. 18; 89, on Dec. 18; 91, on Dec. 18; and a Wayne County woman, 79, on Jan. 1.
• Indiana ended its mask mandate, but kept face coverings mandatory in state buildings and schools and allowed local governments, private businesses and other entities to have stricter guidelines.
• Youth sports leagues may be driving outbreaks of the more contagious B.1.1.7 strain of the virus first identified in the United Kingdom, The Washington Post reports, citing outbreaks in Nevada and near Minneapolis. “Until now we haven’t seen transmission like this in kids in the pandemic,” said infectious-disease specialist Michael Osterholm of the University of Minnesota.
• "Nearly half of new coronavirus infections in the United States are in just five states — a situation that is putting pressure on the federal government to consider changing how it distributes vaccines by sending more doses to hot spots," CNN and The Associated Press report. "New York, Michigan, Florida, Pennsylvania and New Jersey together reported 44%" of new cases in the last week.
• "You won’t remember the pandemic the way you think you will" is the title of a story by Melissa Fay Greene in The Atlantic, which says, "The stories you hold on to will be colored by your own experience—but also by the experiences of those around you."

State opens priority vaccinations to ages 50-59, aims for all 16 and up by April 12; audit found 604 missing deaths from Covid-19

Sen. Rand Paul and Dr. Anthony Fauci argued about
masks at a Senate hearing. See below. (NBC image)

By Bruce Maples and Al Cross
Kentucky Health News

Gov. Andy Beshear announced expansions of the state's Covid-19 vaccination program, both in age priorities and availability, and said bars and restaurants could stay open an hour later because the share of Kentuckians testing positive for the novel coronavirus has fallen sharply, especially Thursday.

He also announced that an audit of deaths had found that the state had missed 604 Covid-19 fatalities during the biggest surge of the pandemic, from mid-November to late January, and said the state would keep looking.

Vaccination expansion: As Kentucky pushes vaccines to thwart more contagious strains of the virus, Beshear said the priority vaccination group would be expanded Monday to anyone 50 or older. People can sign up now, and if sites have slots available this weekend, they can sign up for those as well.

“Kentuckians deemed most vulnerable should still get priority, and they will, but we can’t have these vaccines sitting in a freezer,” Beshear said. “We are in a race against the Covid-19 variants and we’ve got to get it out fast.”

Beshear said that his goal is to have the vaccine program fully open to everyone 16 and older by April 12. That depends on supply, but he said that he is confident the state will not only meet that goal, but beat it.

Asked about anecdotal reports that some vaccination sites are taking adults of any age, and whether that indicates a problem with vaccine hesitancy, Beshear said, "We don't think it's happening on a huge scale." But he also said, "As more people get vaccinated, we'll reach people that want more information. I think as we open up new categories, we'll see more of that hesitancy."

The state will open three big vaccination sites over the next few weeks. The largest, a partnership with U of L Health, will be at Cardinal Stadium. It will have 24 lanes for drive-through vaccinations, with a goal of 4,000 shots a day. Appointments can be made starting March 31, for shots beginning April 12. 

In a push to care for an under-served community, a regional site will open at Whitney Young Elementary School in west Louisville. It will be able to deliver 400 to 500 doses per day, and will have evening hours. 

A regional site will open Wednesday, March 24 at Kentucky Dam Village State Resort Park, in partnership with the University of Kentucky, Wild Health, and the Marshall County Health Department. It will include testing as well as vaccinations and be open 8 a.m.to 7 p.m. seven days a week.

Details on these sites, as well as the other 563 sites across the state, are available at vaccine.ky.gov.

Bars, restaurants and numbers: Due to the continuing decline in the pandemic statistics in the state, Beshear said, bars and restaurants will be able to serve until midnight beginning this Friday, with closing extended to 1 a.m. The capacity limit is still at 60%, and masks and social distancing are still required.

The percentage of Kentuckians testing positive for the virus in the last seven days fell to 3.23%, 0.5 point lower than the day before and the lowest percentage since July 2. It has declined steadily since late January.

The state reported 785 new cases, lowering the seven-day rolling average by 61, to 721. That's the lowest average since Sept. 24.

Audit of deaths: As Beshear explained in an earlier update, the normal death reporting process broke down to some extent during the surge around the holidays. He ordered an audit of death records, which several other states have done, and reported Thursday that 604 more deaths had been found.

The governor said the deaths will be itemized over the next few days. Today's death report included 417 of them, including 200 who lived long-term-care facilities. The average age of the 417 fatalities was 79.9.

Of the 417, Jefferson County had 103, or 24.7% of the total; its share of all deaths has been 17.9%. McCracken County had 16 (3.8%, of the audit total and more than double its overall share of 1.8%); Boyle and Bullitt counties each had 12 (2.9% of the audit total and well above their overall shares of 1% and 1.2%, respectively); Knox and Whitley each had 10 (2.4% of the audit total, far above their overall respective shares of 0.4% and 0.7%).

Other counties with more than five deaths among the 417 were Boyd, Kenton and Madison, 9 each; Fayette and Greenup, 8 each; Barren, Estill, Floyd and Hardin, 7 each; Campbell, Christian, Laurel, Pike and Warren, 6 each. Seventy other counties had five or fewer, for a total of 90 counties with at least one death found through the audit and reported Thursday, with 187 left to be itemized.

Beshear noted that audits in Ohio and Indiana found about 4,000 and 1,500 missing deaths, respectively.

The audit, and 31 deaths added to the list through the normal review process, brought the state's death toll to 5,504, 4,987 of them confirmed and 517 probable.

Asked why the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports 6,483 Covid-19 deaths in Kentucky, based on death certificates, Beshear said his administration follows a more rigorous process. He said a certificate might list Covid-19 as a cause of death, but the state's review process may find no positive test to prove it; and even if does, the test may not be close enough to the date of death to be listed as a cause. He noted that death certificates can list multiple causes.

"We'll try to be as transparent about the process as we can," Beshear said. Earlier, he said:

"Our commitment is to know the full devastation of this virus. This won't be the last audit that we do; it won't be the last time that we discover additional people who have passed away. . . . We still have, from this audit, a number of records that we still need to get to determine whether additional Covid deaths occurred. What we will do is we will update when we get the information to make sure that everybody's loss is counted. And that as we move out of this, that we're able to process the total toll that it's taken, and the grief that is has created. No unknown soldiers; everybody counts."

Update on variant: Health Commissioner Steven Stack explained more about a new variant of the virus that had been found in a nursing home, apparently in Morehead. He said the genomic sequencing that found the variant was conducted because several residents had Covid-19 despite being vaccinated.

Whenever someone who has been vaccinated still contracts the virus, their infection is gene-sequenced to see if it is a "variant of concern" that is already known. If not, more the variant is compared with larger datasets to see if it is similar to other less-concerning variants around. He said that analysis is still ongoing, but it has not been identified as a variants of concern.

Mask debate: U.S. Sen. Rand Paul had another dust-up with Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Biden's chief medical adviser and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. At a Senate committee hearing, Paul accused Fauci of wearing a mask "for show" after being vaccinated, CNN and Fox News report. Fauci replied, "Here we go again with the theater. Let's get to the facts."

"Fauci stressed that vaccines and natural immunity did not protect against Covid-19 variants," Fox reports. "Fauci pointed to a South African study by Johnson & Johnson that found those who had been infected with the 'wild-type' Covid-19, meaning the original strain, had 'no protection' when exposed to variants." Paul, an ophthalmologist, said, "There is no evidence that there are significant reinfections after vaccine."

UPDATE, March 19, 2 p.m.: Aaron Blake's analysis of Paul's "amateur epidemiology" is the most-viewed story on The Washington Post site.

In other pandemic news Thursday:

• The 31 fatalities listed through the normal process today were nine Boone County women, aged 80, 81, 83, 90, 90, 91, 94, 94 and 103; three Boone County men, 80, 86 and 90; two Campbell County women, 84 and 90; a Harlan County woman, 73; a Henry County woman, 94; a Henry County woman, 77; a Hopkins County woman, 69; a Jefferson County woman, 97; a Kenton County woman, 98; a Kenton County man, 72; a LaRue County woman, 86; a Laurel County woman, 69; a McCracken County woman, 67; a McCreary County man, 80; a Marshall County woman, 93; an Ohio County man, 67; a Pike County man, 57; a Pulaski County man, 79; a Shelby County man, 79; and a Trimble County man, 75.
• Kentucky's rate of new cases ranks 17th, according to The New York Times, which shows that Lyon County, site of virus outbreaks at state prisons, still has by far the nation's highest rate. The state reports that rate to be 277 cases per 100,000 population. Other counties with rates more than double the statewide rate of 12.05 are Simpson, 63.1; Knox, 41.7; Clay, 34.5; Hopkins, 28.1; Carroll, 26.9; Laurel, 26.3; Butler, 25.5; and Estill, 24.3.
• Counties with 10 or more new cases were Jefferson, 150; Fayette, 48; Simpson, 37; Warren, 28; Boone, 27; Hardin, 25; Madison, 21; Kenton, 16; McCracken, 16; Clark, Daviess, Hopkins, Knox and Laurel, 14; Christian and Whitley, 13; Campbell and Oldham, 12; and Montgomery and Pulaski, 10.
• Kentucky hospitals reported 449 Covid-19 patients, eight more than Wednesday; 110 of those were in intensive care, up 1; and 57 of those were on ventilators, down 3.
• The new login screen and new home screen for the state's unemployment system goes live on Friday, as part of continuing improvement to the user experience. It will require every user to create a new login for their account, with stronger passwords. A tutorial for the new system will is available tonight.
• A new law allows the state to waive some of the overpayments made through federal relief programs. Persons who have been asked to pay back an overpayment must first file an appeal; if that appeal is denied, or the person never got a chance to appeal, they can then apply for a waiver, said Amy Cubbage, Beshear's general counsel.
• Dr. Anthony Fauci said on “Morning Joe” on MSNBC, “We’ve really got to be careful that we don’t claim victory and pull back on all the public-health measures that we know work in keeping the lid on these surging of infections. So although there is good news in the sense of the vaccine continues to get rolled out … if all of a sudden we declare victory, we can risk a surge.”
• Fauci also stressed the need to “get the overwhelming proportion of the population vaccinated.” Without that, he said, “You’re still going to have the virus have the capability of circulating in society because there are so many vulnerable people. So the approach we are taking is to try and reach out and explain to people and ask what are the issues that make them hesitant about getting vaccinated and try to address them with good, solid, scientific facts.”

Ky. was more successful than most adjoining states at avoiding both Covid-19 deaths and pandemic-related unemployment

Forward Kentucky table; for an interactive version with sortable columns, click here.

By John Schaaf

Republished from Forward Kentucky

As the U.S. marks one year of the Covid-19 pandemic, Kentucky and the other 49 states have experienced relentless arguments about the best way to deal with the virus: “Implement no restrictions and let people decide for themselves” vs. “Implement restrictions to help people protect themselves and others.”

The result of these competing positions is a national landscape of confusion, as each state developed its own approach and had different levels of success. Some states have a lower rate of Covid deaths or a lower rise in unemployment rates, but few states succeed in both.

According to year-long measurements, Kentucky was more successful than its seven adjoining states in keeping its rate of Covid deaths lower while also holding down its unemployment-rate increase.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, about 5,000 Kentuckians have died from the virus, or 111 per 100,000 residents, according to information compiled by The New York Times from state and local health officials.

From pre-pandemic December 2019 to high-pandemic December 2020, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says Kentucky’s unemployment rate rose from 4.3 percent to 6 percent, up 1.7 percent.

Indiana’s unemployment increase was .6 percent lower than Kentucky’s, but the Hoosier State’s death rate in the pandemic is 189 per 100,000. If Kentucky had Indiana’s death rate, our state would have lost about 3,510 more lives to Covid-19.

Likewise, unemployment in Ohio (up 1.4 percent) and West Virginia (up 1.2 percent) increased less than in Kentucky, but Covid deaths in Ohio have occurred at 150 per 100,000 and in West Virginia at 130 per 100,000, both considerably higher than in Kentucky. At Ohio’s rate, 1,755 more Kentuckians would be dead.

Three of our adjoining states have fared worse by both the death and unemployment measures. Illinois ranks close to Indiana in deaths at 182 per 100,000, and the state’s unemployment increase (3.9 percent) is more than twice Kentucky’s increase in the same year.

Likewise, Tennessee’s COVID death rate is 168 per 100,000 and unemployment increased 3.1 percent since the pandemic started. Missouri’s death rate is 140 per 100,000, while the state’s unemployment rate increased by 2.4 percent, so both states’ numbers are significantly worse than Kentucky’s.

Virginia is the only one of our neighboring states with both numbers close to Kentucky’s levels. With a death rate that’s a bit higher than Kentucky’s (112 per 100,000), Virginia has experienced a 2.2 percent increase in unemployment, one-half percent more than Kentucky.

Four regional vaccine sites announced; health departments and some local pharmacies to get doses for people 70 and older

The governor showed video of faith leaders getting vaccinated; their names were included in a news release. The other photo shows the governor and his wife, Britainy Beshear, with memorial flags.

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

Working toward the day when there is enough vaccine supply for everyone, Kentucky is opening four more high-volume vaccination sites, bringing the state's total to eight, with more in the works. 

"Now, we're not fully there yet, but we're gonna continue to work on it," Gov. Andy Beshear said at the week's last news briefing. "And if you look through the progression of where we even were a week ago, and you look at where we are now, you see how this is coming together. So bear with us, but most importantly, have patience." 

Beshear reminded Kentuckians that the lack of supply remains the greatest obstacle, saying the state is working to vaccinate more than 3 million people with only 68,000 doses a week: "You can do the math." 

Meanwhile, the state's coronavirus case numbers and positivity rate continue to trend down, but the death numbers remains high. 

Beshear announced 2,500 new cases of the virus, the lowest on a Thursday in four weeks. He said the state is on track to have four consecutive weeks of fewer cases. The seven-day average is 2,312, the lowest since Nov. 14.

In another encouraging sign, the share of people who have tested positive for the virus in the past seven days is 8.37%, the lowest in more than a month. 

But deaths remain "high, difficult and tragic," Beshear said as he announced 58 more, 18 of them from long-term-care facilities. Today's death count ties with Jan. 21 for the second highest day for deaths during the pandemic. The highest was 69 on Jan. 28. 

The seven- and 14-day death averages are both 44.3; that is the second highest 14-day average. Today's deaths took the state's death toll to 3,921.

Beshear said many deaths listed Thursday were related to the surge of cases around the holidays. He said most are from January, some are from December and one or two are from November. Reporting is sometimes delayed, and deaths aren't listed until they go through a committee to confirm they are related to Covid-19. 

"This is a trend we have to stop," he said. "We certainly need to slow it down, and each and every one of you can help by doing your part." 

Vaccines: The four new high-volume regional vaccination centers will be located in Covington, Bowling Green, Murray and Glasgow. 

Two will open in partnership with Kroger Health, one at the Northern Kentucky Convention Center in Covington and the other at Greenwood Mall in Bowling Green. Both will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, Feb. 11-13. Seven-day rolling appointments can be scheduled at kroger.com/covidvaccine or 866-211-5320. 

Another site, with a long list of partners, will open at the Murray State University CFSB Center. The Murray site will be open from 8 a.m. to noon Wednesday, Feb. 10, and again on Wednesday, Feb. 17. To sign up for an appointment visit callowayhealth.org or call 270-753-3391.

The fourth site will be at the T.J. Health Pavilion in Glasgow. Beshear said the days and hours at this site are still being determined. He encouraged those looking for an appointment should check in regularly at tjregionalhealth.org, or call 270-659-1010. 

Vaccinations for people 70 and older will also be available at more pharmacies and local health departments, Health Commissioner Steven Stack said.

He said a federal program will send about 13,000 doses to 80-100 Walgreens stores and 40-50 independent pharmacies with the Good Neighbor Pharmacy brand. Stack said he expects it will end up being about 100 doses per pharmacy. Stack said this program may begin as soon as next Thursday.

And for the next three weeks, starting Monday, Feb. 8, every health department will receive a vaccine allocation equivalent to 1% of the population of the county or district they serve, rounded to the nearest 100, with a minimum allocation of 100 per county. He said second doses will arrive four weeks later. 

"The vaccine quantities, overall, are not enough for the task," he said, "but this is still incremental progress." 

Beshear showed a video of faith leaders from across the state getting vaccinated as part of campaign to encourage those in their congregations and communities to get vaccinated when they can. About 50 faith leaders received their vaccination in the Capitol rotunda in the last two weeks, a news release said. 

The daily vaccine report shows 401,264 Kentuckians have received one dose of the vaccine and with the additional vaccines given through a federal program that provides vaccines to the Bureau of Prisons, the Veterans Administration and the Department of Defense, Stack said about 10% of the state's population has been vaccinated. 

Beshear said the federal long-term-care vaccine program is opening up different ways it can be used, so the state is exploring how to expand the program to other senior living sites, like assisted living or group homes. He said they are finalizing a new program and promised details next week. 

Again, Beshear and Stack encouraged Kentuckians to stay safe this Super Bowl weekend, encouraging them to keep their gatherings to no more than eight people from two households, to practice social distancing, to wear mask, to practice good hand hygiene and to stay home if they are sick.  

Tommie Speagle

Beshear honored the life of Tommie Speagle of Waco, in Madison County, who died at 96 on Saturday after battling Covid-19.  She is survived by her daughter, Beverly Morefield, her two sons, Paul Bridewell and William Bridewell, her stepdaughter, Sandy Curl, her stepson, J.C. Speagle, six grandchildren and 14 great grandchildren. 

"While I'm sure it was a full life, it's not okay that it was cut short by Covid-19," Beshear said. "This is someone with a big, large, wonderful family that is really hurting today. And has been hurting since her passing. So let's think about them. Let's think about her. And let's make sure we mask up for one another." 

In other coronavirus news Thursday: 

• New fatalities listed were a Ballard County man, 85; a Boone County woman, 75; five Boone County men, 52, 67, 70, 72 and 74; a Bourbon County woman, 86; a Bullitt County woman, 79; a Daviess County woman, 88; a Daviess County man, 92; three Fayette County women, 58, 70 and 80; two Fayette County men, 76 and 86; two Franklin County women, 84 and 94; a Gallatin County woman, 74; a Graves County woman, 77; a Graves County man, 85; a Harlan County man, 69; a Hart County man, 75; three Jefferson County men, 38, 59 and 76; a Kenton County woman, 97; four Kenton County men, 68, 69, 85  and 97; a Lawrence County man, 78; four Letcher County women, 82, 85, 87 and 96; three Letcher County men, 63, 66 and 67; a Metcalfe County woman, 89; a Montgomery County man, 70; an Oldham County woman, 78; an Oldham County man, 39; two Perry County women, 71 and 85; two Pike County women, 78 and 79; two Pike County men, 73 and 89; a Pulaski County woman, 69; a Pulaski County man, 76; a Rockcastle County woman, 66; a Russell County man, 70; a Shelby County man, 80; a Simpson County woman, 77; a Taylor County man, 67; a Wayne County man, 65; and a Wayne County man, 80.
• Counties with 10 or more new cases were Jefferson, 400; Fayette, 165; Kenton, 162; Boone, 138; Madison, 112; Daviess, 82; Campbell and Warren, 75; Hardin, 52; Pike, 44; Clark, 40; Nelson, 37; Bell and Bullitt, 34; Letcher, 32; Barren, 30; Oldham, 29; Hopkins and Marshall, 28; McCracken and Washington, 25; Christian, 24; Boyd, Franklin, Grant and Laurel, 23; Henderson and Jessamine, 22; Scott and Whitley, 21; Graves, 20; Taylor, 19; Harrison, Shelby and Woodford, 18; Bourbon, Floyd, Greenup, Montgomery and Rowan, 17; Perry and Rockcastle, 16; Marion and Pulaski, 15; Anderson, Butler and Logan, 14; Allen and Knox, 13; Calloway, Grayson, Lawrence and Mercer, 12; Fleming, Garrard and Trigg, 11; and Hart and Ohio, 10.
• In long-term care, there are 380 active resident cases and 278 active staff cases, with 24 residents and 20 staff testing positive today. Beshear said two more deaths have been attributed to Covid-19 in these facilities, bringing the death toll to 2,183. 
• There are 1,340 Covid-19 patients in Kentucky hospitals; 368 are in intensive care; and 171 of those are on ventilators. 
• Four hospital-readiness regions' ICU beds are more than 80% full: Barren River, 82.41%; northeast, 82.81%; east, 82.35%; and Lake Cumberland, 97.78%. 
• Click here for the governor's news release with updates on unemployment insurance.  
• This week, 857 students and 307 staff have tested positive for the virus; 3,093 students and 478 staff are in quarantine, according to the K-12 school dashboard, which is getting sketchy; it shows 538 schools have submitted no data this week. 
• Johnson & Johnson said Thursday that it had filed an application with the Food and Drug Administration for emergency authorization of its one-dose vaccine. 
• The second dose of vaccine may cause more side effects than the first dose, including reactions like swelling at the site of injection, body aches, headache and fever, Maggie Fox reports for CNN. University of Arizona biology professor Michael Worobey explained that the first dose generates an immune response that produces antibodies "from the ground up" as well as immune cells called B cells. He said it is these B Cells that kick into gear with the second shot and create a "very big immune response" and that "is what is happening when people feel like they have been kicked in the teeth." The Lexington Herald-Leader also offers an explainer for why people are seeing more side effects with the second dose.  
• Sarah Ladd of the Louisville Courier Journal explores the inequities among Louisville ZIP codes when it comes to virus cases and vaccines. Beshear said Wednesday that Kentucky will start releasing demographic data for vaccines on Monday. Chelsea Jones of Lexington's WKYT also reports on low vaccine rates among minority groups.