American Cancer Society wants state to spend $10 million a year on smoking cessation and prevention; current budget is $2 million

Graph from Broken Promises to Our Children: A State-by-State Look
at the 1998 Tobacco Settlement 24 Years Later; click on it to enlarge.

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network will ask legislators in the upcoming General Assembly session to spend a lot more on tobacco prevention and cessation, with a focus on how decreasing smoking and vaping rates would improve Kentucky's economy and its workforce.  

Doug Hogan, the group's government-relations director for Kentucky and West Virginia, told Kentucky Health News that Kentucky's high smoking rates come with great cost to people's health, health-care systems and the economy. 

"From a business perspective, businesses are losing thousands of dollars each month because of lost productivity and also on increased health-care costs for their employees who smoke," Hogan said. "This is a huge cost factor for our businesses and it's also a healthy-workforce issue." 

In a news release, Hogan said "Smoking is estimated to cost Kentucky $2.23 billion in direct health-care costs, including $634 million in Medicaid costs annually. Additionally, smoking costs the state an estimated $6.3 billion in productivity costs annually." 

Doug Hogan (LinkedIn photo)

Hogan praised state officials for creating in the last several years environments that are conducive to expanding businesses and creating more jobs, but he told KHN, "If there's not a healthy workforce to fill in those jobs, then a lot of that is for naught. And so we want to take a look at the economics of this and say, we need to focus on a healthy workforce." 

The cancer society's ask of $10 million a year for tobacco cessation and prevention is $8 million more than the state is spending now. 

This increase would prevent 2,400 Kentucky teenagers from growing into adults addicted to deadly nicotine products, Hogan said in an email. 

"We want to use the additional funding for prevention so that our next generation of young people don't grow into adults who are addicted to deadly nicotine products," he said. "And then the other part of that is to provide the tools and the resources that adults need, who want to quit, to be able to be successful and move toward a smoke-free lifestyle." 

In Kentucky, the release said, “22.5% of high school students currently use tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, and 17.4% of adults in Kentucky smoke, which is over 40% higher than the national average.”

Hogan said in the release, "Kentucky has the opportunity to turn these numbers around with the 2024 budget. For every $1 spent on comprehensive prevention and cessation programs, states receive up to $55 in savings from averted tobacco-related health-care costs. So, a $10 million investment would be a great step toward a healthier workforce and could save up to $550 million." 

The University of Kentucky's Markey Cancer Center will evaluate the program to ensure the state is getting the maximum return on its investment, Hogan said.

He added, "We know that kids who experiment with electronic cigarettes are much more likely to experiment with other tobacco products and more likely to become addicted to deadly nicotine products."

A document presented to the legislature's Tobacco Settlement Agreement Fund Oversight Committee in September showed the estimated monthly and annual costs to employers from cigarette smoking, by county. In Adair County, where 26% of the adult population smokes, the annual cost to the workforce for the estimated 1,138 adults in the workforfce who smoke is $7.9 million. 

The 2024 legislative session convenes Jan. 2 and must adjourn by April 15. The deadline for filing for legislative seats and other partisan offices in the 2024 primary elections is Jan. 5. 

Lawmaker on key committees supports an increase in funding

Sen. Amanda Mays Bledsoe

Sen. Amanda Mays Bledsoe, R-Lexington, vice-chair of the Senate Appropriations & Revenue Committee and co-chair of the House-Senate tobacco committee, said she agrees with the cancer society's argument that reducing the number of people who smoke will save money in the long run and would create a healthier workforce. 

"I think their plan is on the right track," she said. 

However, she added, that she'll have to wait and see what is in the House budget before before she can react to this request. The budget must start in the House. 

"I'm not really sure where that's gonna land," Mays Bledsoe said, "but I am supportive of their ask."

She added that it's important to recognize that the tobacco-settlement money touches several pieces of the budget, with half of it allocated for agriculture diversification. 

"I was really surprised over the years of where they've used program money," she said. "And my biggest surprise was how much of it was not used on specifically tobacco cessation." That was one of the big arguments for the states' 1998 settlement with cigarette manufacturers, but states have spent relatively little on it.

Kentucky 43rd in smoking cessation and prevention funding

While $10 million would be a huge jump from the current $2 million in tobacco prevention and cessation spending, it would still fall far short of the $56.4 million advised by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

According to a report titled Broken Promises to Our Children: A State-by-State Look at the 1998 Tobacco Settlement 24 Years Later,  Kentucky ranks 43rd among states in funding tobacco prevention and cessation programs, down five slots from 2020, when it spent $3.3 million.

Meanwhile, the tobacco industry spends $251 million for tobacco marketing in the state, says the report, issued by the cencer society, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, the American Heart Association, the American Lung Association, the Truth Initiative and Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights.

Quit help for Kentucky smokers

Kentucky smokers have several tools to help them quit.

The state runs a 1-800-QUIT-NOW hotline that offers free tobacco-cessation services 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Coaching is available by phone or online chats. .

And while Quit Now Kentucky provides free services to people of all ages, middle- and high-school students may want to try "My Life, My Quit," a free, confidential quitline for Kentuckians 17 and younger to help them stop smoking or vaping. Teens can text "Start My Quit" to 36072, or click on the live chat button on the My Life, My Quit website to chat with a coach.

A 2017 law requires insurers, including Medicaid, to cover all seven tobacco-cessation medications approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and counseling services recommended by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. It also eliminated co-payments for medication and counseling, requirements tying medication coverage to counseling, and limits on the length of treatment.

The cancer society also offers a list of resources to help you quit using tobacco products.

Hogan said many Kentucky smokers still don't know what quitting resources are available to them, even though research shows that more than two-thirds of smokers say they want to quit.  

"But it's very difficult," he said. "If we increase the tobacco prevention, cessation programming, and the investment that we're making there, we can have more of an impact on the folks to get them the resources they need to quit."

Seats available at Mar. 28 Recovery in the Workplace Conference

Author Sam Quiñones at an earlier Chamber conference

The Kentucky Chamber of Commerce is hosting its fifth annual Recovery in the Workplace Conference March 28 at the Marriot Griffin Gate Resort in Lexington and still has seats available.

 
The conference will feature best-selling author and journalist Sam Quiñones, who will share his experiences as a reporter covering the evolution of gangs, immigration, the southern border, drug trafficking, addiction and related issues over 35 years.

"I think that when you attend these kinds of things, you're able to share and you’re able to learn, you take that back to your own community, and that is a huge benefit," Quiñones said about the conference on Twitter. His latest book, The Least of Us, focuses on the rise of synthetic drugs in the opioid epidemic.

Members of the Kentucky Chamber Foundation team will speak about various initiatives in which employers can get involved to most effectively recruit and retain individuals in recovery. Topics will include an update on the status of substance use in the Kentucky workplace, programs that have led to long-term success for people in recovery, entrepreneurial opportunities that have led to improved recovery outcomes in Kentucky, issues of reentry specific to employment, and more. 

The Recovery Consortium of Kentucky will hold its 2023 Recovery Hall of Fame ceremony to recognize people in long-term recovery and those who have taken a leading role in addressing Kentucky’s addiction crisis through efforts for prevention, treatment, education, and advocacy.

The awards and recipients include: the Congressman Hal Rogers Award, going to Van Ingram, executive director of the state Office of Drug Control Policy; the Jay Davidson Award, to Charlotte Wethington (mother of the namesake of Casey’s Law); the Employer of the Year Award, to Toyotomi America Corp.; and a special award to Jeff Whitehead, executive director of the Eastern Kentucky Concentrated Employment Program (EKCEP). 

Isaiah House Treatment Center presents the event. Click here to register.

Suit claims Morehead hospital refused to grant all requests from workers for religious exemptions from Covid-19 vaccine mandate

St. Claire Medical Center (Photo from The Daily Yonder)

A woman who says she was fired by St. Claire Medical Center for not getting a Covid-19 vaccine is suing the hospital in federal court, alleging that the Morehead hospital denied the religious exemption she claimed, and those of all other employees who claimed such an exemption.

Teffany Smith of Olive Hill filed the lawsuit in federal court, but cited the state law banning religious discrimination by employers. Smith, who was a lab assistant, says she was fired Sept. 15, 2021, the day that each hospital employee was required to be vaccinated.

The suit says Smith submitted an exemption citing several passages of Scripture and a letter from a pastor, Joyce Stapleton of New Life Victory Church in Olive Hill, who said the vaccine “violates laws put forth within us by a higher power at the time of conception. . . . We believe in healing and that is what our God provides.” The church website lists different pastors.

Smith also "alleges the hospital did not engage in a good-faith dialogue and consideration of proposed accommodations for not receiving the vaccine," Taylor Six of the Lexington Herald-Leader reports. "St. Claire Healthcare officials did not respond to request for comment."

Services Monday for Dr. Russell Travis, health-care leader, 87

Russell Travis, M.D.

Funeral services will be held Monday in Lexington for Dr. Russell Travis, a retired surgeon who was a longtime leader in Kentucky's health-care community. He died Oct. 29 at the age of 87.

Travis served as chair of the state Board of Medical Licensure and the state Workers' Compensation Board and held various positions with the American Academy of Occupational Medicine. He was president of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons and a longtime member of the Joint Washington Committee of Neurosurgery, which helped set national policy for neurological medicine. 

He was a visiting professor at medical schools in Kentucky, South Carolina, Michigan, Mississippi and Virginia. His many awards included the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Academy of Independent Medical Evaluators and the Service to Mankind Award from the Kentucky Medical Association.

Travis grew up in Glasgow but was born in Jenkins, on the Virginia border, and he "would often speak fondly of his years in the mountains," his obituary said. "He gave back to the Appalachian community for over 30 years, by providing on-site neurosurgical care to those residents who lacked access."

He is survived by his wife, Jill Travis, four children, a brother and six grandchildren. Visitation will be held from 4 to 8 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 6, and 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. Nov. 7, with funeral services following immediately, at Kerr Brothers Funeral Home on Harrodsburg Road. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to Kentucky Easter Seals or the Lexington Humane Society.

Kentucky farmers, often beset by circumstances, can take advantage of a new program to support their mental health

The following story is from The Goldenrod, which normally covers rural Eastern and Central Kentucky. Editor Sarah Baird writes, "If you live in a farming community—or are part of a farming family—I’d ask you to share Michelle’s piece with a friend or loved one this week. It could help save a life."

By Michelle Eigenheer

As dawn broke in the early morning hours of Dec. 11, 2021, residents and aid workers began to get a clearer view of the damage caused by a late-night tornado that left nearly 200 miles of wreckage across 11 counties in Western Kentucky. The EF-4 tornado—one in an outbreak of over 60 that caused $5 billion in estimated damage across six states—killed at least 77 people and sent more than double that number to emergency rooms.

Logo of the program, which began in 2020

Among the neighbors and rescue workers who poured into communities like Mayfield to help pull people from the rubble and offer hot meals in the December cold were Dr. Cheryl Witt and Dale Dobson, who met with farmers to take stock of their unique needs. Witt and Dobson are members of a campaign called Raising Hope, a coalition including the Kentucky Department of Agriculture and Cabinet for Health and Family Services, the Southeast Center for Agricultural Health and Injury Prevention and a number of state universities that formed in 2020 to offer critical resources and education to support the mental health of Kentucky farmers and their families.

Along the tornado’s path, farmers found their buildings demolished, equipment missing or damaged, and livestock killed by the destruction, debris and devastating winds. An estimated 30 poultry barns were leveled in the night; a hatchery and the 8 million eggs inside were destroyed; grain mills and silos were toppled or torn apart, exposing the livestock feed inside to the storm’s rain and rendering it unsafe for consumption. Hundreds of cattle and other livestock were injured and killed, sometimes even carried away by the 190-mph winds. Total estimates for damages and losses are still being assessed, over a month after the supercell storm.

“We’ve had two tornadoes come through . . . and laid flat [farmers’] whole livelihood, just laying there on the ground to pick up and rebuild, and then the snowstorm…you have tragedies,” says Dobson, a KDA farm safety officer and Hodgenville-area farmer who has taught farm safety for 20 years. He joined Witt—a sixth-generation farmer and nurse who teaches at the University of Louisville in addition to serving as the Raising Hope project manager—with the intention of expanding ideas of farm safety to include mental health and physical wellness.

The devastating storms are the latest in a series of acute struggles that farmers across Kentucky and the nation have faced since the start of the pandemic, adding to a growing list of stressors that have negatively impacted the mental health of farmers and their families for decades.

Farmers and agricultural workers have among the highest reported rates of suicide across all occupational groups, according to studies from the CDC. With this in mind, Raising Hope formed and outlined immediate goals: reducing the stigma of mental healthcare among farming communities; increasing education and awareness around mental health; showing farmers appreciation from their communities; and using data collection methods to get a better view of the issue.

State Rep. Brandon Reed's Twitter post about the program

Support from state Rep. Brandon Reed, a Hodgenville Republican, secured funding from the legislature, providing $500,000 for 2020 and again in 2021. The group worked quickly, enacting programs to improve existing infrastructure and build a network of crisis and risk assessment training access throughout the 56 Kentucky counties that showed the highest number of indicators for crisis.

They began QPR training—a method of crisis response that follows a directive of Question, Persuade, Refer, to identify and interrupt a mental health crisis so that the subject can be directed to care—and educated 57 QPR trainers across the state who, in turn, trained 450 key community members on how to recognize and aid those who may be considering self harm or ending their own life.

They invited doctors and nurses to the annual Farm Machinery Show and offered health checkups for attendees. Partnering with Western Kentucky University, they developed a rural suicide prevention training that focuses on “response measures for farmers in crisis and the application of cultural sensitivity and humility.” CRUSHing Farmer Suicide—Cultural Respect, Understanding, Sensitivity, and Humility—is currently available for healthcare professionals in the form of a free, one-hour continuing education program.

They then turned to the state’s crisis hotline. Backup call centers were located in Miami and New York at the time, creating unneeded confusion and complications during critical conversations with rural populations.

“During that time, you want to be able to talk to somebody who understands and can connect and relate to you,” Witt explains, giving examples of how different accents and lack of knowledge about stressors, like those specific to rural or farm life, can be obstacles between the person in crisis and the one who answers the call. “You don’t need a communication barrier at that time.”

Now, at least 95 percent of all in-state calls to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (1-800–273-8255) are answered by someone within one of the commonwealth’s own call centers. Callers are now also asked, as part of the existing call intake process, if they’re a farmer or member of a farming family. This was added as part of a data gathering effort to better understand the mental health crisis.

“Because we used our original money to build and expand our projects, that really gave us a lot of ammunition, if you will, to put in for federal funds and be awarded them,” Witt explains. In December 2021, the federal government issued a $500,000 grant to the Department of Agriculture to further expand Raising Hope’s projects and partnerships.

The additional funding has allowed Raising Hope and partners to implement a farmer appreciation grant program. It is also funding the development of a mental health curriculum specifically for rural youth aged 9-12, as well as a peer-to-peer mobile app similar to those used in veterans groups that will center “mental health and wellbeing-focused online interventions” and include access to just-in-time telehealth services. The curriculum is slated to pilot in fall 2022, while the app is entering user testing in the coming weeks.

This grant is part of a nearly $25 million investment by USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture to 50 state-level projects in an effort to expand or create mental health and stress management resources for farmers and ranchers across the country.

The list of stressors and potential crisis factors for farmers is long: they are isolated within the acres of land that they farm; their income is greatly affected by fluctuating commodities pricing and supply chain failures; their crops and livestock are subject to damage or ruination from factors out of their control like climate change and natural disaster; even exposure to insecticides has been linked to higher rates of depression. Farmers are also more likely to suffer chronic pain from a lifetime of manual labor, and have increased access to lethal means, such as firearms and heavy machinery. A number of studies on farmer mental health note that reported rates of suicide are likely low because deaths can easily be misreported or mistaken as farming accidents.

The pandemic compounded many of these stressors. Ongoing tariffs in the trade war with China hit U.S. agriculture hard. And 2020 payments to compensate for those financial losses largely missed small producers and family farms: CNBC reports that two-thirds of the $28 billion Market Facilitation Program went to the top 10 percent of recipients. The report outlines the disparity: companies at the top received an average of $164,814 per payment, while the bottom half of recipients received, on average, less than $2,500 per payment. Meanwhile, bankruptcy rates for farms in the Midwest, including Kentucky, rose 23 percent from June 2019 to June 2020.

In financial turmoil, many small-scale and family farm operations are not facing just a loss of income: losing the farm can also mean losing the house, losing an identity, or failing a family tradition.

Dr. Cheryl Witt on her farm (Photo from Ky. Dept. of Agriculture)

Witt explains: “I farm—six generations now. You talk about something you’re passionate about, it’s all those internalized feelings and attachment to the land. That’s me. I live it every day. Because farming is such an identity, as farmers age and are unable to [continue working], that also mentally affects a lot of farmers. Farmers will define good health by their ability to get up and work. So when they can’t do that, it absolutely does a number on their psyche.”

Dobson’s explanation is more succinct: “Everything is tied into one thing: If I lost my job [at KDA] today, I’ve still got my home and my farm to go to and work. [If] I lose my farm, I lose my home. My living. My identity. My everything.”

When Dobson began mental health outreach with farmers in the communities where he teaches farm safety, he used challenge coins as a prop to turn everyday conversations toward oft-stigmatized mental health subjects. Turning the coin in his hands gave him an opening to incite a promise from those he works with, he explained.

“When you shake my hand and take my coin, you take my challenge,” he tells them. “You give me your word that if you feel down, you’ll call somebody. You call me, you call the 800-number on the back, anytime. You find somebody.”

Breaking through the barrier to a discussion about mental health opens a door for stories and disclosures that may otherwise be withheld for years, even decades. He tells them, “I’m not saying anyone is suicidal, I’m saying some of us have good and bad days.”

“I had one farmer, we’ve been friends for 30 years. We shook hands, he held my hand and says, ‘You been involved in suicide?’” Dobson recounts.

Dobson, who has encountered a number of cases of self harm, including the loss of his best friend, says that the farmer then shared that his first wife had taken her own life in front of their young son—and for 35 years had never said a word about it to Dobson or most others.

He points to this disclosure as a sign that things are changing for the better.

“Raising Hope is going to change the world,” Dobson declared on a phone call from Atlanta, where he was attending a farm safety training. “We ain’t never had a program before that dealt with rural mental health, or mental health, period, out here. There’s a stigma about it, there’ve been no conversations about it. And farmers, some of them, are starting to talk about the bad days and the gloom and doom.”

Dobson continued, “Everyone’s had to go pick up a friend or neighbor and know somebody that took their lives. The world’s changing on that part for the good, because we’re communicating.”

If you’re in crisis, there are options available to help you cope. You can call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at any time to speak to someone and get support. For confidential support available 24/7 call 1-800-273-8255 or visit https://go.usa.gov/xftYC.

Kentucky program, first of its kind in the nation, makes it less risky for employers to hire people with substance-use disorder

By Melissa Patrick

Kentucky Health News

Kentucky has launched a new program that will lessen the risk of liability to employers who hire or retain people with substance-use disorder -- if employees sign up for treatment and complete it. 

"This program is the bridge between recovery and employment," LaKisha Miller, executive director of the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce's Workforce Center, told Kentucky Health News. She said the Kentucky Transformational Employment Program could be a model for the rest of the nation. "This has never been done before."

The program "ultimately provides a pathway for businesses and employers to help more Kentuckians reach long term recovery, while supporting fair-chance employment," Miller said.

"Fair chance" or what some call "second-chance" hiring is an important and necessary tool to address the staffing shortages across Kentucky, Miller said in a news release: "Kentucky currently ranks 48th nationwide for workforce participation, and the Covid-19 pandemic has only exacerbated this problem. Research shows that when the nation’s unemployment rate increases by just 1 percent, the opioid overdose death rate rises by 3.6%." 

In the interview, Miller spoke about the importance of employment for those in recovery. She acknowledged that employment is not the "silver bullet" to solve the addiction crisis, but "It is a big piece of the puzzle." 

The program is made possible by Senate Bill 191 of the 2020 legislative session, which, among other things, established a framework for employers to retain and hire people who are in addiction recovery and provides legal-liability protections for those employers that adhere to the established framework.

The liability protections are key, Miller said, adding that strong legislation allows for strong programs like KTEP. 

For example, she said a company that is enrolled in KTEP, and has enrolled eligible employees in it, is protected against legal action if the employee with a substance-use disorder "is using" and has a mishap.

"So that's the power of Senate Bill 191," MIller said. "It's removing that legal liability from you; whereas, before you would have been open to that." 

She said the program also lets employers "pause the employment process" to allow applicants time to enter treatment, and is also meant to decrease stigma in the workplace related to addiction, treatment and recovery.

Once an employer has signed up for KTEP, Miller said, a dedicated staff person helps with the process, including resources, guidelines, training videos and for review and revision of the firm's drug and alcohol policies. 

"We want to make sure that that businesses aren't just focused on giving somebody a fair chance, but are truly committed to creating an a transformative workplace," Miller said. To ensure the program is working as intended, data will be collected regularly from participating employers.

KTEP is sponsored by the Chamber's foundation, the state Cabinet for Health and Family Services, the Kentucky Office of Drug Control Policy, the Kentuckiana Health Collaborative and Kentucky Opioid Response Effort.

KODP Director Van Ingram said in the news release, “We see a real opportunity for this program to do some good, and we encourage employers across Kentucky to make a positive impact in their communities. Stable employment is a critical component of long-term recovery and can provide Kentuckians with the purpose and motivation they might need to stay in remission and get their lives back.”

Miller said the state was already leading the way in fair-chance employment through the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce Foundation's "Who's Hiring" campaign, which has recruited 19,000 fair-chance positions in the last year and a half. More information, including training resources for employers and a form for businesses to sign up for the program, can be found online at kentuckycomeback.com/KTEP.

People in recovery, and people trying to help them, talk about it at Chamber's annual meeting designed to help employers help, too

By Jacqueline Pitts
The Bottom Line, Ky. Chamber of Commerce

Kentuckians who are in recovery from substance-use disorder, and people who are trying to help them, talked about their efforts Tuesday at an annual conference designed to encourage employers to help.

Employment, assistance, wrap-around services and trainings were just some of the items discussed at the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce’s third annual Recovery Conference in Lexington.

Ashley McCarty, the Chamber’s Workforce Recovery director, spoke about her own personal struggles with substance-use disorder and how she is now using her experience to help Kentucky companies fix their outdated personnel policies to allow for a fair chance and notice early warning signs.

McCarty, who is seven years in active recovery from opioid addiction, said she was among the top five pharmaceutical sales representatives in the country when she had a few surgeries for which she was prescribed opioids for pain. Everything began to fall apart as she developed a dependency on those medications, her performance plummeted, and she even attempted suicide.

Recovery, McCarty said, taught her she could change by being open and transparent, working to build others up, and working on herself and her own struggles.

Keeneland cook Krystal Grimes talked about her recovery.
(Photographs by Sawyer Coffey, Kentucky Chamber of Commerce)

Krystal Grimes, a line cook at Keeneland, is four years into her active recovery and shared her powerful story with the conference.

Grimes said that to understand her addiction, it is important to understand her childhood and the sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of family members at a very young age. She was turned away by adults like school counselors, and abusers told her it was her fault. She then tried to take her own life. When she woke up, her first feeling was sadness that the attempt had not worked, and while the abuse stopped at that point, her feelings did not, and she sought out ways to numb the pain.

As she got older, she married a man who also struggled with addiction and they had three children. She was prescribed an opioid after each Caesarean section that made her feel like “Super Mom,” and her tolerance grew. After many years of struggles, Krystal and her husband lost their children and their home and she thought she didn’t think she had anything else to lose. Then she found heroin, and things continued to get worse as she attempted to stop the pain.

Eventually, she started treatment with Suboxone and eventually began attending classes, where she met McCarty, who inspired her to use the medication correctly and start doing the work of recovery.

With Keeneland since 2014, Grimes said the company has seen her struggle, but continues to believe in her and provide stability, support, and much more which she said has been critical to her recovery.

Jason Roop, Director of the Technology Training Center at Campbellsville University, presented research showing that people with substance-use disorder are often goal-oriented, resilient, adaptable, and persistent. He studied characteristics of those in leadership roles who have struggled with addiction and found transformational, authentic leaders are making a powerful difference in the business community and many other sectors.

How employers can help employees

Isaiah House Treatment Centers President Mike Cox shared their goals for effective treatment, including meaningful employment. Cox said when a business gives an individual in recovery a second chance, a sense of loyalty is automatically created. Isaiah House has partnerships with multiple businesses willing to employ individuals in active recovery.

Ed Early of Isaiah House discussed the critical role of the employer in the recovery process. It begins with reducing stigma in the workplace, he said. Employers should treat those in recovery in the same manner as other staff members: be welcoming, provide education and training, understand how to reward and hold employees accountable, and know when to retain, terminate and advance employees.

“It’s all about the opportunities they are given and the support they are shown,” said Early.

Landmark Recovery National Business Development Manager Zachary Crouch talked about why individuals don't seek help from employers: “The real reason is stigma.” Crouch said the cost of not treating substance use and mental health is too expensive not to address, since each replacement of an employee costs them six to nine months’ salary. He encouraged businesses to seek ways to engage employees when they are struggling with substance abuse and mental health and to encourage vulnerability, diversity, and inclusion in the workplace.

Representatives of Goodwill Industries of Kentucky, which has developed second-chance policies through removing barriers to employment for individuals in recovery and/or leaving incarceration, talked about new efforts to help individuals overcome re-entry and recovery challenges. One project is a program in which participants can learn soft skills, financial literacy, digital literacy, communications skills, resume writing, mock interviews to address criminal history and gaps in resumes, health and nutrition, and much more. Learn more about the program here.

Heather Lowe, founder of Ditched the Drink, shared her
testimony as Susan Rider of Preventia Group listened.

More than 70% of people with addiction issues are working, said Heather Lowe, founder of Ditched the Drink. She said it is critical to have vulnerable conversations, know the signs of a substance-use disorder, and implement successful treatment options in the workplace.

Saying it's critical to treat alcohol the same as a drug to address its abuse, Lowe shared her testimony of heavily using alcohol in workplace settings, which moved to her abusing alcohol at home.

Susan Rider of Preventia Group said studies show businesses that have adopted organizational change around alcohol often report improvements in morale and productivity, and a decrease in absenteeism, accidents, downtime, turnover, and theft. Also, various options for substance use disorder treatment can help lead to reduced health care costs for businesses

As employers heard about the ways addressing substance use disorder in the workplace can save them money, the Kentucky Career Center highlighted its services that can help. Learn more about programs like the Work Opportunity Tax Credit, the Kentucky Unemployment Tax Credit, Federal Bonding Programs, and Kentucky Essentials Skills Training by visiting kcc.ky.gov or by emailing Workforce@ky.gov.

HEALing Communities Study, other efforts

Dr. Sharon Walsh of the University of Kentucky reported on the HEALing (Helping End Addiction Long Term) Communities Study, a four-year, $87 million effort, funded by the largest federal grant UK ever received, to reduce opioid overdose deaths in 16 Kentucky counties.

Walsh said many "silos" separate medical care, behavioral health and recovery housing, which can make it difficult for people to find what they need. To address this, the study is evaluating the impact of various interventions, including education and distribution of naloxone; effective delivery of medication for substance use disorder; and safer opioid prescribing and distribution.

Walsh pointed to the rise of illicit fentanyl from China in U.S. markets as a reason that naloxone training and distribution, and a focus on medically-assisted treatment for substance-use disorder, remain critical to helping Kentuckians reach recovery.

RECON Kentucky, a consortium for recovery in Kentucky, announced its first inductees into the Kentucky Recovery Hall of Fame. U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers of Somerset and Jay Davidson, founder of The Healing Place, were honored for their work to solve the state’s struggles with substance-use disorder.

Van Ingram, executive director of the Kentucky Office of Drug Control Policy, stressed that Kentucky’s struggle with substance-use disorder must be addressed at the community, person-to-person level. He highlighted areas of success the state has seen in recent years including his office’s partnership with the Chamber’s Workforce Recovery initiative, which is training more than 5,000 Kentucky business leaders on the importance of being a recovery-friendly workplace.

While Kentucky is doing many things right, Ingram said, there is bad news as well. His office will soon release a report showing a 40 percent increase in overdose deaths, much of which can be attributed to a rise in the use of fentanyl. To get Kentucky back on track, Ingram said Kentucky must re-evaluate all efforts to ensure the state is saving as many lives as possible.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said efforts the federal level to combat substance-use disorder have broad, bipartisan support in Congress. He emphasized the importance of people getting back to work, especially those struggling with substance use disorder, and said the continuation of additional unemployment benefits is an obstacle to that.

The Bottom Line is a news service of the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce. This story was independently edited and published by Kentucky Health News.

Ky. OSHA complaints rose 45% in 2020, partly due to pandemic; issues are likely to linger as workplaces try to get back to normal

Courier Journal graph, adapted by Kentucky Health News

Kentucky workers filed 45 percent more occupational safety and health complaints in 2020 than in 2019, but only 8 percent of them have been investigated, reports Matt Mencarini of the Courier Journal.

The increase could have had causes other than the pandemic, since the volume of complaints can be cyclical, the state Labor Cabinet told Mencarini. But he cites examples, such as a November complaint against the Kroger Distribution Center in Louisville, alleging that employees had Covid-19 and managers were not informing others about it.

The state's low investigation is actually above the national average, Mencarini reports. "Across the U.S., complaint investigations decreased dramatically during the pandemic," he writes. "Critics for years have derided weak worker safety laws and enforcement, decrying dwindling budgets and staffs in worker safety agencies. The pandemic only exacerbated the problem, they say."

Bill Londrigan, executive director of the state AFL-CIO, told Mencarini, "There needs to be some sort of recognition that even though the rates of transmission and death from Covid have decreased due to the increase in the vaccination rates, that certainly it is not in the rearview mirror. Protections should still be in place."

"Many of the complaints lodged in 2021 suggested the national polarization around masks extended to the workplace," Mencarini reports. "As Covid rates drop and more people return to workplaces, new challenges are arising." Londrigan told him that some workplaces shouldn't abandon mask-wearing, though "no one really likes it."

Late-winter poll found Kentuckians were sharply divided over mandated vaccinations for in-person work or schooling

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

Kentucky adults were divided in late winter when asked whether coronavirus vaccines should be required for employment or attending in-person school, according to a recent poll.

The poll, taken Feb. 11 to March 12, found 47% of Kentucky adults said it was a good idea to require school children to be vaccinated before in-person schooling, and 50% said it was a bad idea.

“It’s expected for parents to have lots of questions and be concerned about their child’s health,” said Ben Chandler, president and CEO of the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky, which sponsored the poll. “We encourage you to talk with your child’s pediatrician, your doctor, pharmacist or local health department to get the facts about what the vaccine means for your teen. And, talk to your teenager about what they want to do.”

By far, more Democrats (68%) than independents (43%) or Republicans (28%) said it was a good idea to require children to get a vaccine in order to attend in-person school.

This idea was most supported by Kentuckians 65 and older (56%) and least supported by those 30 to 45 (36%). There was also a divide between households without children (54%) and those that did (32%).

The poll was taken many weeks before the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was approved for use in children 12-15. This age group became eligible to get the vaccine Wednesday, with the first doses given Thursday in Kentucky. The vaccine has been authorized for people 16 and older since December.

A spokesperson for the state health cabinet, Susan Dunlap, told WFPL that “there are no current plans for the Covid-19 vaccine to become a mandatory immunization for Kentucky’s school children/youth.”

Allison Adams, the health foundation's vice-president for policy, said the poll shows how important it is for families to hear from trusted health-care providers as they decide about Covid-19 vaccination for children.

"They want to hear on a personal level how vaccine could impact their family members from someone who knows them, their situation and their community," Adams said at an online news conference. "That's why it's so important right now for local healthcare providers to be getting factual information out to their patients."

And even if the vaccine is not mandatory, Adams said there is value in offering the vaccine at schools because studies show the more readily available a vaccine is, the better the uptake will be.

A nationwide poll, taken in April, found three in 10 parents of children ages 12-15, or 30%, said they would get their child vaccinated for Covid-19 as soon as the vaccine was authorized. The Kaiser Family Foundation poll found 23% said they would definitely not get them vaccinated.

Polling on business

Gov. Andy Beshear announced Friday that he will allow all Kentucky businesses to open to 100% capacity June 11. He said waiting a month allows children 12-15 time to get fully vaccinated, which means they have received their second shot and two weeks have passed after receiving it.

The Kentucky poll also asked whether the respondents thought it was a good or bad idea for businesses to require employees to get a Covid-19 vaccine before being allowed to work in person. To this question, 52% said it was a good idea and 44% said it was a bad one.

Again, Democrats were most likely to support required Covid-19 vaccines to return to in-person work, at 74%, followed by independents at 56%, and Republicans at 35%.

This idea was also most supported by those 65 and older (65%) and least supported by those 30-45 (40%).

"Research shows that vaccines help keep people from spreading Covid-19 to others and they are a critical tool as we work against the clock before more variants come along. . . . That's why we all need to get vaccinated," said Adams.

The foundation's poll was conducted by the Institute for Policy Research at the University of Cincinnati. The poll's error margin is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points. It surveyed a random sample of 807 Kentucky adults in landline and cellphone interviews.

Beshear says Ky. has "exponential growth" of virus cases, so he may impose new statewide restrictions on Wednesday

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

By Melissa Patrick

Kentucky Health News 

Gov. Andy Beshear warned Monday that Kentucky is having "exponential growth" in coronavirus cases, and said that if the trend doesn't change by Wednesday, he may impose further restrictions to slow the spread of the virus.

"This thing is going crazy. It's spreading like wildfire," Beshear said in a comment that was included in a pandemic story on the CBS Evening News. He pointed to what he called the "stair-step graph" that shows 16,748 cases last week, 30% higher than the previous week.  

That is not exponential growth, but Beshear offered this explanation, saying the graph showed "It took us months to have our first day where we had 1,000 cases. It took a shorter period than that to go from a day with 1,000 cases to 2,000 cases. It took us a week to go from 2,000 cases in a day to 3,000, which happened last week.

"So, what do you think happens from here? It either continues to increase like that or we come together as a people, do what it takes, everybody wear their mask, to ultimately lessen the spread of this virus." 

He said Health Commissioner Steven Stack would show models Tuesday "about where we think it’s going; and then on Wednesday, if we don’t see a change in the numbers the first couple days this week, we’ll talk about some additional steps that we may have to take, or by that point we will have to take to try to get this virus back under control."

Beshear provided no detail on what those new restrictions might look like, but said they would not be as restrictive as they were in the spring. 

"If we have to take additional steps, they are going to be more targeted to ensure that we are getting the best possible results," he said. But he indicated that the targeting wouldn't be geographic: "If we have to take extra steps, we ought to do it all together at the same time." 

He added that with most counties in the state's red or orange zones, the two highest levels of infection, the restrictions would be statewide to ensure "maximum impact." 

Beshear said 103 of the state's 120 counties are in the red zone today, up from 94 on Thursday. He said the spread of the virus in these counties is "truly uncontrolled" and that our families and individuals in them "are in danger."

The governor announced the second highest additional case numbers for a Monday, 1,514, a day that is usually low because of limited testing on weekends. He said 173 of the newly identified cases were 18 and younger. The seven-day rolling average of daily new cases is 2,372.

The share of Kentuckians testing positive for the virus in the past seven days is 8.98%, again the highest it's been since testing became widely available in May.

Hospital use: Covid-19 hospitalizations and use of intensive care units again reached all-time highs, with 1,442 people hospitalized in Kentucky with the virus, 309 more than at a week earlier. ICUs have 360 covid-19 patients and 128 of them are on ventilators. 

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

Beshear said that the concern around hospital capacity continues to be less about bed capacity than about staffing, saying health-care workers share the risk when the virus spreads so widely. 

“If we don’t have enough staff to help someone that's in a hospital bed, the bed itself doesn’t help,” he said. “And staffing, we think, is going to run thin before our overall number of beds do.” Asked for the number of staffed beds available, he said he would check.

    

Vaccine and fatigue: Today's good news was that Moderna has announced that its two-dose vaccine is 94.5% effective, according to early data released Monday by the company. The news comes a week after Pfizer Inc. announced its two-dose vaccine was more than 90% effective.

It will take several months to vaccinate most of the U.S. population, but the reports gave the most clear picture yet of when the pandemic might end, and Beshear suggested that should make it easier for pandemic-fatigued Kentuckians to "get their second wind" and do what it takes to protect themselves and others as we wait on the vaccines to become widely available. 

"This is now a time-limited virus," the governor said. "We need everybody with this new news, again, to buckle down to make sure you are making good decisions each and every day because people's lives depend on it."

Long-term care: Beshear warned that unless Kentuckians do what it takes to lower infection rates, especially in counties with the highest number of cases, there is no way to keep it out of long-term care facilities.

"We shouldn't be sacrificing our seniors because we don't want to wear a mask," he said. 

Health Secretary Eric Friedlander announced that visitation in long-term-care facilities would be limited over the holidays and that any resident who leaves a facility should go into quarantine upon return. He also said the state would be further restricting communal dining and group activities.

"We have to take these aggressive actions, and balance it with what we know about loneliness and separation," Friedlander said. "There will be some personal visitation sacrifices . . . so we’re not sacrificing our seniors."

Friedlander said the state will add five additional National Guard "strike teams" to help with non-clinical needs of the facilities, for a total of 10 teams.

The state reported 1,598 active cases among residents and 970 among staff in long-term-care facilities. Beshear said 52 more deaths have been attributed to them, bringing the total to 1,049 resident deaths and six staff deaths. Residents have accounted for 63% of Kentucky deaths associated with covid-19.

Beshear said another veteran has died at the Thompson-Hood Veterans Center in Wilmore, bringing to 25 the number of deaths of veterans who lived at the state facility. He said 11 at the facility have an active case of the virus, with six in isolation and five in the hospital. 

Prisons: J. Michael Brown, Beshear's executive cabinet secretary, said "The news from the corrections front is not good," noting more than 2,000 virus cases among inmates and more than 280 among staff since March.

He called it "alarming" that more than half the 700-plus inmates at Lee Adjustment Center, a privately operated state prison at Beattyville, have tested positive for the virus, and tests on some are still pending. He said 474 have tested positive for the virus and 380 of them still have active cases.

"We wanted to bring this to everyone’s attention just to show that sometimes in spite of our best efforts, this virus continues to strike us," he said. Since March, one in five inmates has been infected, John Cheves reports for the Lexington Herald-Leader.

Deaths: Beshear announced that the state had confirmed three more covid-19 deaths, bringing Kentucky's death toll from the disease to 1,664. 

“We right now are suffering from avoidable loss, meaning we are having loved ones die that we can stop, that we can prevent,” Beshear said.

The fatalities were all women: a 66-year-old from Graves County, a 63-year-old from Henderson County and an 83-year-old from Jefferson County.

In other covid-19 news Monday:

• Counties with 10 or more new cases were Jefferson, 268; Fayette, 190; Kenton, 65; Hardin, 54; Boone, 49; Campbell, 46; Madison, 45; Graves, 44; Powell, 39; Bullitt, 29; McCracken, 27; Oldham, 26; Mercer, 24; Jessamine, 23; Warren, 22; Pulaski, 20; Boyle, 19; Pike, 18; Marshall, 17; Breathitt, 15; Daviess, 15; Perry, 14; Shelby, 14; Grant, Scott and Taylor, 13 each; Nelson, 12; Boyd, Floyd and Whitley, 11 each; and Barren, Franklin, Harrison and Lincoln, 10 each.
• The K-12 public health report, which includes verified cases, shows 929 students and 481 staff testing positive for the virus in the past 14 days, with 334 students and 174 staff reported today. 
• The college and university report shows 693 students and 10 staff testing positive in the past 14 days, with 265 students and three staff reported today. 
• Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman said the state will no longer take applications for the Team Kentucky Fund, which raised more than $3.7 million to help Kentucky families who have been economically hurt by the pandemic. She said the fund has assisted 2,500 families and all funds will likely be exhausted once current applications are processed. Anyone who still needs assistance should contact Community Action Network, which has partnered with the state to distribute the funds. Additional resources can also be found at kycovid.ky.gov, she said. 
• Surgeon General Jerome Adams said Saturday that the coronavirus is more contagious than seasonal flu. Speaking on NPR's "All Things Considered," he said, "Covid seems to spread much more easily than the flu, and it causes much more serious illnesses in some people." He encouraged people to seek medical guidance if they have symptoms that may be from colds or flu, and to not self-diagnose. "And the one symptom that I would alert people to that really differentiates flu from covid is loss of taste or smell," he said. "If you get that symptom, then you need to be reaching out to your health provider right away and going in and getting a covid test." 
• The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has fined the Fayette County Schools Transportation Department $9,000 after 19 employees tested positive for the virus at a bus garage last spring and one died, Valarie Honeycutt Spears reports for the Herald-Leader. The fines were for not reporting the death and hospitalizations; the school district said it reported the cases to OSHA, prompting the investigation.
• Lexington set a one-week record for new coronavirus cases and covid-19 hospitalizations over the past seven days, according to the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department. A spokesman told the Herald-Leader that the surge seems to align with Halloween parties. “We’re not able to trace anything specifically to parties or gatherings, but it’s very likely part of the increases come from events like that,” Kevin Hall said.
• The free version of Zoom caps calls at 40 minutes. On Thanksgiving, Nov. 26, Zoom will lift the limit for free calls globally, the company announced. The limit will be reinstated at 6 a.m. ET Nov. 27, the Herald-Leader reports.
• Becker's Hospital Review has collected 10 clinicians' opinions on what Thanksgiving and the holiday season should look like. Their general advice: cancel, or celebrate only with your household. 
• Twelve hospitals have closed during the covid-19 pandemic, including Our Lady of Bellefonte Hospital in Ashland, which closed April 30, Becker's reports. Its closing was announced Jan. 21.
• Dr. Jonathan Reiner, a medical analyst for CNN, called U.S. Sen. Rand Paul's advice that people who have had covid-19 to throw away their masks and resume life as normal, based on his belief that they are immune, "very, very disturbing." Reiner noted that Paul, an ophthalmologist, was the "medical genius" who went swimming in the Senate pool while awaiting results of his coronavirus test. "I'd put no credence in anything he says about anything having to do with this virus," he said, and encouraged people to consider the "long-haulers," which Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious-disease doctor, has said could be up to 20% of covid-19 cases.

Cases up, positive-test rate down; Beshear says mask mandate having effect, but suggests more people should work from home

State chart adapted by KHN; current period has 3 of 7 days remaining; at current rate would be 3845.

By Al Cross and Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

Thursday's coronavirus numbers were mixed, but Gov. Andy Beshear kept accentuating the positive, saying he sees the impact of his July 9 order requiring Kentuckians to wear masks in indoor public spaces and outdoors when they can't stay six feet apart.

"It appears that face coverings are making a difference," Beshear said as he announced 659 new cases of the virus, raising the seven-day rolling average by seven, to 612. But Beshear pointed to week-to-week trends.

"We at least stopped the significant escalation in that last week we're showing, and we believe we are going to be somewhere in that zone at the end of this week," he said. "We believe what we are generally seeing is a leveling off or at least a significant decrease in the escalation" that began in early July.

Thursday's best number on the state's daily report was 5.66 percent, the share of Kentuckians testing positive for the virus in the last seven days. Wednesday's seven-day percentage was 5.81.

Beshear said the state remains in "a danger zone, but again with the time to do things right." In a new suggestion, he said businesses could help by letting more of their employees work from home.

"I think the further that we've gotten into this virus, the more people have tried to pull 100 percent of their employees back in the office, and that doesn't help," he said, adding later that he had heard, anecdotally, that many workplaces are operating at 100%. "I would still really suggest people stay down around 50 percent," he said. "If people are productive virtually, don't mess with their production."

Health Commissioner Steven Stack also pointed to the bar graph of weekly case numbers showing that Kentucky was able to maintain a long, sustained plateau for almost three months, but has recently started to escalate in such a way that he said "is scary again."

"We are all dying, some just more quickly than others. So I accept that; that's called mortality," said Stack, an emergency-room physician by trade. "I am not here to separate you from your death. I would just like to delay it as long as I reasonably can." 

The old and the young: Stack said some people have been "cavalier" about the facts that 97% of Kentuckians killed by the virus were over 50, and 90% were over 60, suggesting that these are people who are going to die anyway. He said people in those age groups seek his help.

"I get letters every day from people who tell me they really don't want to die, that they kind of value the one life they have, and so for them it does matter. And so if you are in those high-risk categories, it really matters. They are relying upon the rest of us to behave responsibly so they don't pay a price with the one life they have." 

Though younger people don't often die from covid-19, it is a disease with many effects, and we still don't know a lot about it, Stack said. 

He noted that we didn't know for months that it could cause multi-system inflammatory disorder in children, and we still don't know what kind of long-term or permanent damage it will cause.

And in young adults, he said the virus can cause blood-clotting disorders, including strokes, pulmonary embolisms and heart problems, that can cause permanent damage. Recent studies show that as many as one in five young adults still have symptoms up to three weeks after diagnosis, he said.

"That's not the flu," he said, using a familiar comparison used by skeptics. "The flu lays you low for a while and then you bounce back, that's a lot longer recovery." And people over 50 are twice as likely as young adults to have symptoms three weeks after diagnosis, he said.

Also, some people suffer irreversible lung damage. "There's a lot we don't know," he said. "And so, I'm not trying to fear-monger. I'm just trying to tell you there's a lot we don't  know," he said. The New York Times published a long update about the pandemic with a rundown of strange things the virus can do.

Contact tracing: The July surge did not overwhelm the state's contact tracers, the employees who call people who have had contact with those who have tested positive for the virus, said Mark Carter, the official overseeing them.

Carter said the tracers are reaching 70% to 75% of those identified as contacts, and they have "overwhelmingly" been cooperative when asked to self-quarantine for 10 days or until they get a negative test of their own.

"They want to protect their health, they want to protect their loved ones," Carter said. "Certainly, there are those that are uncooperative, but so far those have been far in the minority."

He said more cases could overwhelm the program, so it's important to recognize it as one measure of the state's response to the pandemic. He suggested that its big test will come when students return to classrooms. "Indoor settings are an issue," he said, "and as we look at school returning, whenever that happens, that is of significant concern to us."

In other covid-19 news Thursday:

• The state reported seven more deaths from covid-19, raising its toll to 731. The fatalities were a 75-year-old man from Casey County; a 65-year-old man from Christian County; a 92-year-old woman from Green County; an 82-year-old man from Greenup County; an 81-year-old woman from Ohio County; a 63-year-old woman from Simpson County; and a 70-year-old woman from Warren County.
• Counties with more than 10 new cases were Jefferson,138; Fayette, 42; Warren, 22; Laurel, 20; Hardin, 18; Shelby, 17; Graves and Henderson, 15 each; Christian and Daviess, 14 each; Kenton and Mercer, 13 each; Barren, Oldham and Scott, 12 each; and Franklin and Pulaski, 11 each.
• Beshear said the day's 659 new cases included 22 children under 5.
• In long-term care facilities, 12 more residents and 18 more employees tested positive for the virus, but no new deaths were attributed to the facilities. Five more facilities were added to the list of those with a least one case, raising the total to 253.
• He cast some doubt on the Sept. 5 Kentucky Derby, to be held at 60% spectator capacity, when asked if he would go if it were held now. "I think everybody wants us to see improvements on where our numbers are," and if the recent escalation continued, "I would have to think long and hard before really going anywhere and that's about a decision for me and my family," he said. "If the numbers are still where they are right now in September, that means we've done a great job plateauing them, and if that's the case I probably would go and hand out that trophy." He said he hopes Churchill Downs is continuing to find ways to make the event safer.
• Asked abut the state fair, set for Aug. 20-30, he said the Department for Public Health "sent an additional series of recommendations . . . for them to consider in light of where we are right now. And remember, anything that is held out there or anywhere else around Kentucky that is large, if not done well, can ultimately upset other opportunities to do large events." He said he did not know what the agency's recommendations were. 
• Beshear said mediation failed to resolve Northern Kentucky landlords' lawsuit challenging his ban on evictions, so the suit will head toward trial. The state Supreme Court is allowing eviction cases to be filed, but Beshear's order bans execution of eviction judgments. He acknowledged that some renters are "gaming the system . .. but are there people out there that are suffering because of this virus or its economic impact that we can't allow to be kicked out on the street? Yes."
• Muncie McNamara, whom Beshear fired as unemployment insurance director, told legislators that during the early-spring crush of jobless claims, the Beshear administration approved thousands that should have been investigated, until the U.S. Department of Labor “got wind that we were doing that and told us that we had to stop.” He "also said the unemployment insurance system wasn’t technologically prepared when Beshear in March offered the jobless aid to people who wouldn’t normally qualify such as independent contractors, ahead of the federal government taking similar action," Chris Otts reports for WDRB.
• Beshear replied that it's not unusual for a fired official to make "big allegations" that don't pan out. "I believe here we have somebody who, their relationships certainly got messy by the end, but it appears that the termination was valid and they are not kind of exhibiting some of these same things that we have seen in the past. My understanding is that everything that was raised by that individual as they were leaving was addressed."
• Regarding a data breach that McNamara said he reported, Beshear said McNamara forwarded" an email to people who are getting thousands of emails, and then went home. If you are the head of something, you've got a bigger obligation than that." Still, he said the pending inspector general's report on the data breach will "show a number of people in leadership positions should have done more. And we're going to make sure that we correct that and we're going to make sure we are transparent about it."