State accepting applications for medical-cannabis licensing lottery and prescribing authority; patient cards not available until Jan. 1

Rep. Jason Nemes, R-Middletown, and Sen. Stephen West, R-Paris,
discussed medical cannabis legislation before a committee in March.
(Photo by Legislative Research Commission Public Information)

By Sarah Ladd
Kentucky Lantern

Kentuckians can now begin applying for a cannabis business license, and medical providers can apply to the state Board of Medical Licensure and Board of Nursing for authority to write cannabis prescriptions.

This is thanks to a bipartisan House Bill 829 that became law during this year’s legislative session and moved up the medical cannabis timeline from January 2025 to July 1. In 2023, the legislature legalized medical marijuana for Kentuckians suffering from specified chronic illnesses.

Patients who qualify — with a history of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), cancer or other approved medical conditions — still won’t be able to apply for cannabis cards until Jan. 1.

Applications for dispensers and cultivators will remain open until Aug. 31. A limited number of licenses will be awarded, and winners will be chosen in a regional lottery system. The state will award 48 licenses to dispensaries in 11 regions, 10 to processors and 16 to cultivators.

Lottery winners are expected to be announced in October, Gov. Andy Beshear has said. Filling the applications via lottery, Beshear said in April, is a way to keep the process more equitable.

“It creates a more fair process,” he said. “Not one where people bid against each other and only then the big companies can be a part of it.”

Applicants will be required to pay an application fee and provide documentation including business history, operating plans and financial information.

“The program is focused on ensuring cannabis business licensing is fair, transparent and customer-service oriented,” Sam Flynn, executive director of the Kentucky Office of Medical Cannabis, said in a statement.

Rep. Jason Nemes, R-Middletown, the primary sponsor of HB 829, said the new timeline is “the culmination of a long effort to provide for the safe use of medical marijuana to provide relief to Kentuckians suffering from pain and disease.”

“We’re taking the regulatory process seriously,” Nemes said, “and looking forward to seeing it move forward.”

For more information on applying, visit this website.

Lottery system will determine who gets 48 licenses for retailers and 10 for processors of medical cannabis in 11 Kentucky regions

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

Gov. Andy Beshear gave an update on the medical cannabis licensing program Thursday, after signing this year's medical cannabis bill into law the day before.

"We have worked hard to create a safe system that limits or eliminates abuse while still providing relief to that veteran suffering from PTSD or individual suffering from unbearable epileptic seizure after epileptic seizure," Beshear said during his weekly news conference.

Rep. Jason Nemes presents Senate changes to HB 829
on the House floor Monday, April 15. (Legislative photo)

House Bill 829, sponsored by Rep. Jason Nemes, R-Middletown, has been described as a "clean-up" bill for Senate Bill 47, the measure that legalized medical cannabis during the 2023 session under the sponsorship of Sen. Stephen West, R-Paris. 

"In essence, all 829 does is set up the Office of Medical Cannabis and carries out the provisions of SB 47 as was passed last year," West said while presenting the bill on the Senate floor.

The final version of HB 829 will allow Kentucky to start issuing medical cannabis licenses to businesses in July in hopes that the product will be available to dispensaries in January 2025, when the program is set to go into effect. 

“It does allow these businesses — the growers especially — to get up and running, start growing product so there's actually something there to sell January 1,” West explained at the April 12 meeting of the Senate State and Local Government Committee.

It also allows cities to opt out of the medical cannabis program before Jan. 1, 2025, even if a licensee has been approved before that date. 

"Cities and counties have the opportunity to take a local vote. They can also pass ordinances that prohibit implementation," West said while presenting the bill on the Senate floor. "If someone is licensed before that time, it's buyer beware; they will have to take that into account as they apply for the license."

On Thursday, April 18, Beshear and Sam Flynn, executive director of the Kentucky Medical Cannabis Program in the state health cabinet described how the licensing would work under a regulation filed that day.

The new regulation will allow businesses to apply for a cannabis business license from July 1 through Aug. 31. Beshear said 10 licenses will be available across the state for processors, and 48 for dispensaries, the retail outlets. All their cannabis must be cultivated, processed and produced in Kentucky.

Flynn said the program has created 11 licensing regions to ensure Kentuckians with qualifying conditions have access to the product.

Beshear also announced that the state, in partnership with the Kentucky Lottery Corp., will issue the medical cannabis licenses using a lottery system. The first lottery will be held in October.

"This is what states are moving towards," said Beshear. "It reduces or eliminates litigation and it creates a more fair process, not one where people bid against each other and only then the big companies can be a part of it, but one that provides at least a chance for everyone who can meet the criteria." 

Flynn said the licensing process is designed to ensure that the industry is "stable and sustainable" with a focus on "small business" and meeting demand from people who have cards enabling them to buy medical cannabis.  

And, he said, each region will have at least four dispensary licenses available per region, with no more than one dispensary located in each county, with the exception of the state's two largest counties - Jefferson and Fayette - which are allowed two each. 

HB 829 also allows public and private schools to opt out of the program and requires public school boards to establish medical-cannabis policies by Dec. 1. The policies must prohibit the use of medicinal cannabis on school property, or allow use with several options for administration.

The legislature did not expand the list of conditions that would make Kentucky residents eligible for medical cannabis beyond what was allowed in HB 47. In January, Beshear asked lawmakers to add 15 more medical conditions to the list, and West filed a bill to increase the list from seven to 21 conditions. West's SB 337 died in its assigned Senate committee, having never been called up for a hearing. 

The eligible conditions in the current law, passed by the legislature in 2023, are cancer, multiple sclerosis, muscle spasms or spasticity, chronic pain, epilepsy, chronic nausea and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Sports betting has taken off in Kentucky, but counselors for people with a gambling disorder remain in short supply in the state

Churchill Downs Race and Sports Book opened in downtown Louisville in September. (J. Munoz, LPM)

By Jacob Munoz
Louisville Public Media

Legal sports wagering launched in Kentucky in September. Residents can bet online and at brick-and-mortar venues like horse racetrack facilities, no longer needing to cross state lines.

Some experts say the wide legalization and promotion of sports betting could present risks, especially around addiction. The American Psychiatric Association recognizes gambling disorder and defines it as someone showing at least four deeply harmful habits in a year. Those can include constantly thinking about gambling, trying to recoup lost money by gambling more, and being unable to quit.

RonSonlyn Clark is a licensed gambling counselor and the president of the Kentucky Council on Problem Gambling, an advocacy group that connects people struggling with gambling to resources like therapy. She said the accessibility of sports betting can cause a gambler to fall “deeper and deeper into trouble”, and Kentuckians who live far from other states where gambling has been legalized are now at greater risk.

“You can sit in the comfort of your home, while your family is sitting there watching TV at night — most people are playing on their phones — and you can be placing sports bets at any time,” Clark said.

The International Gambling Counselor Certification Board lists Clark as just one of three active counselors in Kentucky, and her organization is looking to boost that number by hosting training sessions. She said she treats patients “from across the state.”

“Because there are so few of us, I do use some telehealth resources,” said Clark, who is based in Owensboro.

The council lists several other certified counselors in the state. Mike Stone, the group’s executive director, said that’s because some earned certification before a merger between the American and International boards.

Calls in Kentucky to a national gambling helpline, answered at RiverValley Behavioral Health in Owensboro, have increased since the state launched sports wagering in September. Gerrimy Keiffer, who works at RiverValley, said in an email that during the first two months of 2024, there were 101 calls seeking help or information on harmful gambling.

Stone attributed the rise in calls to the emergence of sports-betting ads that include the helpline number. He added that legalization has coincided with a shift in what callers say is their preferred method of gambling.

“It has been for years back and forth between lottery scratch-offs and slot machines at casinos. … For the first time in January, the preferred game of choice was sports betting,” Stone said.

An analysis by the council released in 2022 estimated that at least 47,000 Kentuckians could have a gambling addiction, which studies have shown correlates with a high risk of suicide. The council’s analysis also found that at least 102,000 more residents could be at risk of addiction.

Clark said the state has been late in addressing the harms connected to gambling. “I think we should have been focused on problem gambling 25 years ago, when we started” the council, she said.

Guardrails and gaps

Kentucky’s approval of sports betting included a goal to support the state’s permanent pension fund. Revenue from wagers placed at brick-and-mortar venues is taxed at 9.75%, a rate that jumps to 14.25% for online bets.

While some Republicans in the GOP-dominated legislature objected to it on moral grounds, others framed it as a way to regulate an underground industry and prevent residents’ money from going into neighboring states that had already legalized the practice.

Jim Whelan, executive director of the Tennessee Institute for Gambling Education and Research, said that when states legalize the practice, they’re able to better mitigate longstanding risks linked to gambling: “Before the lottery, the idea that you would do public awareness about gambling harms, legislators [and] regulators wouldn't touch.”

Kentucky’s law to legalize sports betting also gave regulatory powers to the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, an independent state agency. In the last three regular days of their legislative session, Kentucky legislators passed a bill to replace the Horse Racing Commission and the Department of Charitable Gaming with a new regulatory agency to oversee most forms of legal gambling.

Through an emergency amendment last year, the commission set some rules on sports wagering advertisements — including banning them at grade schools — and set up a self-exclusion list that residents can opt into if they believe they have a gambling problem. Sports betting providers can’t offer wagering to people who self-exclude from their product for a set amount of time.

In Kentucky, sports betting runs through racetracks such as Churchill Downs and Keeneland Race Course, which can then partner with sportsbook providers. Regulations require the tracks to regularly report self-exclusions they receive to the commission, which shares the full list with all of them.

But those regulations don't require the tracks and their sportsbooks to prohibit everyone on the list from their betting services. The rules also don’t specify how long Kentuckians should be able to self-exclude from gambling beyond at least a 72-hour “break.” Sports-betting providers offer those short cutoffs alongside longer self-exclusion periods.

At least several providers that operate in Kentucky let residents self-exclude for up to five years, and they don’t reopen accounts unless a user requests it. But the majority don’t say they allow for permanent self-exclusion.

Sharon Custer is concerned that people who opt out temporarily could redevelop unhealthy habits once that period is over. She’s a faculty member at the Institute for Responsible Gaming, Lotteries and Sport at Miami University in Ohio, which makes policy recommendations for gambling industries.

Custer said she likes that Kentucky has a shared self-exclusion list, but wants to see more regulations in place: “It should make it a little bit hard to [re-enter], so that someone really has to think twice, ‘Is this really what's best for me?’”

Some states like Ohio and New Jersey have government programs that allow residents to self-exclude from all sports wagering services, and from other forms of gambling, but Kentucky does not.

Rachel Volberg, a research professor at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and president of the gambling consulting firm Gemini Research, said that a “strong, independent regulator” is necessary to oversee the gambling industry.

She pointed to the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, a public agency that hired her more than a decade ago to lead an ongoing research project into gambling’s social and economic impacts on the state.

“Gambling regulation is increasingly being viewed as not just about making sure the operators follow the rules to offer a product in a fair and transparent way,” Volberg said, “but also preventing those operators from behaving in ways that are going to cause harm to residents.”

The Kentucky law legalizing sports wagering also established a fund that provides money for people and groups seeking to address unhealthy gambling behaviors. Those funds can be used for activities like public awareness campaigns, gambling counselor trainings and addiction treatment cost support.

The fund receives 2.5% of the collected tax revenue from sports betting. According to the commission, nearly $900 million had been placed on wagers from Sept. to Dec. 2023. That produced more than $15.5 million in tax revenue, on pace to exceed officials’ expectations of $23 million in year one.

Brice Mitchell, a spokesperson for the state Cabinet for Health and Family Services, said about $630,000 has been deposited in the gambling-assistance account after about half of a year of legal sports betting.

A need for resources

The federal government provides funding, resources and training toward addressing substance abuse and mental health issues. But that doesn’t include support for unhealthy gambling.

Whelan, of the Tennessee Institute for Gambling Education and Research, said there aren’t enough resources to treat unhealthy gambling behaviors: “There's not a lot of education being done out there for health service providers, on how to provide treatment, or even how to screen for this. The issue really comes back to money.”

While some research has shown that medicine, such as opioid antagonists, can address people’s symptoms from a gambling disorder, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has yet to approve any drugs for treatment. Whelan said that behavior-based solutions that target gambling work.

Gamblers are “fundamentally different,” Whelan said, referencing a common belief that they can solve their issues by having “one big win.” He added, “That cognitive behavioral treatment needs to be tailored to the culture and the kind of processes that happen for people when they gamble.”

Clark, of the Kentucky Council on Problem Gambling, said her group hasn’t decided if they will apply for money in the state fund. They hosted a certification session for about 20 people in January.

“This is the first time we’ve had this much interest in becoming a gambling counselor … in a very long time,” Clark said.

She stressed that her group is neutral on gambling itself, and that it can be a healthy practice in moderation: “Gambling is supposed to be fun and entertaining. Take some money that you would use for a night of any other entertainment … That can be the gambling money.”

But she said that people shouldn’t double down on making a profit from it: “Places like Las Vegas, and the casinos and the racetracks, they’re all beautiful, beautiful venues. They didn't build those places off of people's winnings. They built those off of people's losses in those communities.”

If you or someone you know is at risk of problems related to gambling, the national helpline 1-800-GAMBLER can provide resources.

Legislative task forces will examine Cabinet for Health and Family Services and certificate-of-need process for health-care facilities

The Kentucky General Assembly has created joint House-Senate committees to study specific topics, including the Cabinet for Health and Family Services and the state's certificate-of-need process for health-care facilities.

Sen. Steve Meredith

Rep. David Meade

The Kentucky Health and Human Services Delivery System Task Force was created by this year's Senate Bill 48, sponsored by Sen. Steve Meredith, R-Leitchfield, to study the health cabinet's structure and operations, and its administration of programs, policies, and procedures, and determine "if or how services may be delivered more effectively and efficiently," a legislative press release said. It will also examine Kentucky's "benefits cliff" and continue the work of an earlier task force on that subject. Meredith and House Speaker Pro Tem David Meade, R-Stanford, will co-chair the committee. Other members are:

• Senate Republican Caucus Chair Julie Raque Adams, Louisville
• Sen. Shelley Funke Frommeyer, R-Alexandria
• Sen. Denise Harper Angel, D-Lousville
• Sen. Amanda Mays Bledsoe
• Rep. Samara Heavrin, R-Leitchfield
• Rep. Kimberly Poore Moser, R-Taylor Mill
• Rep. Amy Neighbors, R-Edmonton
• Rep. Sarah Stalker, D-Louisville

Rep. Russell Webber

Sen. Donald Douglas

The Certificate of Need Task Force was created by Senate Concurrent Resolution 165, sponsored by Sen. Gex Williams, R-Verona, and HCR 85, sponsored by Rep. Marianne Proctor, R-Union. It will review Kentucky's CON program, including related laws and the state health plan; review the need to maintain or modify CON for each covered health service; and make recomendations. The co-chairs are Sen. Donald Douglas, R-Nicholasville, and Rep. Russell Webber, R-Shepherdsville. The other members are:

• Sen. Karen Berg, D-Louisville
• Senate President Pro Tem David P. Givens, R-Greensburg
• Sen. Steve Meredith, R-Leitchfield
• Sen. John Schickel, R-Union
• Rep. Lindsey Burke, D-Lexington
• Rep. Daniel Elliott, R-Danville
• Rep. Marianne Proctor, R-Union
• Rep. Susan Witten, R-Louisville

Each task force has 10 members, appointed by the presiding officers of each chamber. Reflecting the partisan makeup of the legislature, each has four Republican senators and four Republican House members, and one Democratic senator and one Democratic House member. The committees also include the Task Force on School and Campus Security, a Task Force on Local Government Annexation; the Lottery Trust Fund Task Force, to evaluate the performance of its scholarships and grant programs; the Multimodal Freight Transportation System Improvement Task Force, to study freight and air terminals and ports; and the Jail and Corrections Reform Task Force, which may recommend realignment and closure of correctional facilities.

The task forces are to make recommendations by Dec. 4, in time for the next scheduled legislative session, which will begin Jan. 2, 2024. Task-force meetings will be live-streamed via the Legislative Research Commission's LRC YouTube channel and on KET.org/legislature. Archived footage of meetings can be accessed via KET.org/legislature/archives and on the YouTube channel. The LRC Legislative Calendar has meeting schedules and other information.

Another reason to get the Covid-19 vaccine: Every case of the coronavirus is an opportunity for the virus to mutate

hopkinsmedicine.org photo

Every case of the coronavirus -- whether in an adult or a child and whether it is symptomatic or not -- gives the virus another opportunity to mutate. 

"David O'Connor, a virology expert at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said he likens infections to "lottery tickets that we're giving the virus." The jackpot? A variant even more dangerous than the contagious delta currently circulating," Laura Ungar reports for The Associated Press.

The fewer people who are infected, the fewer "lottery tickets" the virus has, "and the better off we're all going to be in terms of generating the variants," he told Ungar, who writes that variants "are even more likely to emerge in people with weakened immune systems who harbor the virus for a long time."

And that's one more reason why it's so important for all eligible people to get the Covid-19 vaccine, because in doing so it limits the opportunity for spread, especially children who often have the virus, but don't have any symptoms.

"Vaccinating kids also means reducing silent spread, since most have no or mild symptoms when they contract the virus," Ungar writes. "When the virus spreads unseen, scientists say, it also goes unabated. And as more people contract it, the odds of new variants rise." 

Cadell Walker of Louisville told Ungar that she rushed to get her 9-year-old daughter Solome vaccinated to not only protect her from the virus, but to also keep it from spreading and mutating into more dangerous variants.  

"The only way to really beat Covid is for all of us collectively to work together for the greater good," Walker, told Ungar. 

Ungar reports that while researchers disagree on how much kids have influenced the course of the pandemic, one estimate from the Covid-19 Scenario Modeling Hub, a collection of university and medical research organizations that consolidates models of how the pandemic may unfold, shows that "for this November through March 12, 2022, vaccinating 5- to 11-year-olds would avert about 430,000 Covid cases in the overall U.S. population if no new variant arose." If a variant 50% more transmissible than Delta showed up in late fall, 860,000 cases would be averted, which would be "a big impact,"  project co-leader Katriona Shea of Pennsylvania State University told Ungar.

Another big unknown is that dangerous variants may arise in largely unvaccinated parts of the world and make their way to the U.S. That concern is showing itself in real-time as the U.S. and several other nations restrict travel to and from southern Africa, where the new Omicron variant emerged. The World Health Organization says it is "a variant of concern." 

“It’s going to buy us some time,” Dr. Anthony Fauci said of the travel ban. “It’s not going to be possible to keep this infection out of the country. The question is: Can you slow it down?”

More than half of state's acute-care hospitals report critical staff shortages; 7-day average of new coronavirus cases sets a record

Ky. Health News graph; daily cases from initial, unadjusted reports. For a larger version, click on it.

By Melissa Patrick and Al Cross
Kentucky Health News

Before celebrating the third and final batch of winners of the state's lottery for the vaccinated, Gov. Andy Beshear gave yet another grim pandemic report, saying 50 of the state's 96 acute-care hospitals report critical staff shortages.

"It's worse from a hospitalization standpoint and a hospital capacity standpoint than it's ever been for any reason," Beshear said at an event held to announce the lottery winners. "You are at more risk now if you are in a car accident or have a heart attack of not getting all the services you need than ever before."

The state continued to report record numbers of Covid-19 patients in hospitals and intensive care, and on mechanical ventilation, though the daily gains were mostly the lowest of the week. But 4,815 new cases of the coronavirus raised the seven-day average above 4,000 per day. It is 4,045, breaking the record of 4,002 set Jan. 12.

Kentucky hospitals reported 2,129 Covid-19 patients, 592 in intensive care and 349 on ventilation. Beshear noted the latter record a sign of the seriousness of the pandemic, noting the state had delivered two ventilators to T.J. Samson Community Hospital in Glasgow because it had run out.

"People should rightfully be very scared of the Delta variant. . . . It is that serious. It is that aggressive," he said.

The seven-day infection rate set a new record Thursday and did again Friday, rising to 84.49 daily cases per 100,000 residents. Counties with rates more than double the statewide rate are Clay, 259.9; Bell, 226.1; Whitley, 215.1; Owsley, 197.4; LaRue, 175.6; and Perry, 171.9. The next six are Laurel, 166.6; Wolfe, 163.7; Jackson, 161.8; Grayson, 153.5; Breckinridge, 153.5; and Allen, 148.1.

The lowest rate, 25.1, is in Woodford County, which has the highest percentage of residents who have received at least one dose of vaccine, 72%.

Kentucky's infection rate ranks fifth in the nation, trailing Mississippi, Florida, Louisiana and Tennessee. Indiana and West Virginia are 15th and 16th; Missouri is 23rd, Virginia is 30th, Ohio is 34th and Illinois is 36th.

The percentage of Kentuckians testing positive for the virus was again the highest since testing became widely available last spring: 13.33%.

The state reported 18 more Covid-19 deaths, raising the seven-day average to 24 per day. One month ago, it was four per day.

Beshear reiterated several of the state's most recent efforts to provide relief to its hardest-hit hospitals, including use of the Kentucky National Guard in ways that free up hospital staff; Federal Emergency Management Agency emergency-medical strike teams arriving in Louisville, Prestonsburg and Somerset; a request to FEMA for nurse strike teams; and using money from the 2020 federal pandemic relief bill to set up four testing sites.

Beshear again called on Kentuckians to get vaccinated, and reiterated that it's time for a statewide mask mandate, a measure that would have to be imposed by the legislature because of last Saturday's state Supreme Court ruling upholding laws that limit the governor's emergency powers. 

"If we truly want to stop the surge and save lives . . . the legislature is going to need to do a statewide mask order," Beshear said, noting national projections of 100,000 more deaths, "half of which could be saved by universal masking That's 50,000 people across the United States; that's a pretty good reason to do it."

The winner of the third $1 million prize, Mary Mattingly of Louisville, Mattingly urged vaccination and expressed her appreciation and via video because she was traveling. 

"I want to use this opportunity to encourage each of you to get the shot of hope," Mattingly said. "The vaccines cannot stop every case, but they can greatly reduce your chances of acquiring a serious, long term or fatal case of Covid-19."

The five Kentucky youth selected for full postsecondary-education scholarships are Marissa Herron of Mount Washington, Lillie Nielsen of Nicholasville, Jordan Ballard of Crestwood, Grider Burch of Lexington and Jaden Wattley of Louisville.

"The response we've had for this sweepstakes has been great," Beshear said, saying it generated hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of favorable publicity for the vaccines, which are the targets of misinformation. "I do think we're at the point where incentives can probably only do so much."

Beshear said 762,174 adults entered to win the three $1 million prizes and 47,544 youth entered to win the 15 scholarships. Since announcing the sweepstakes, 419,566 Kentuckians received a Covid-19 vaccine.

Daily vaccinations continued to increase. Today's report, reflecting yesterday's shots, says 16,410 doses were given, raising the seven-day average to 13,389 per day, the most in more than two months.

Chart by The Washington Post, adapted by Kentucky Health News; to enlarge, click on it.

In other pandemic news Friday:

• Franklin County Schools said they would close next week due to a rising number of virus cases, and will offer students non-traditional instruction and work.
• The Grayson County school board adjourned without finishing its business Thursday night "as tensions escalated and more audience members began speaking out of turn" about masks and other controversial subjects and "additional Leitchfield Police Department personnel responded," the Grayson County News-Gazette reports.
• Senate President Robert Stivers did a "Kentucky Newsmakers" interview about the newly powerful legislature's approach to the pandemic. It will air Sunday at 6 a.m. on WKYT-27 and 10 a.m. on The CW Lexington, WKYT's digital channel 27.2.
• The University of Kentucky says it's not taken vaccine mandates off the table, even as it expands incentives for vaccination, WKYT reports. Starting next week, unvaccinated students and employees must be tested weekly.

Fauci: The vaccinated can be as infectious as the unvaccinated, so they need to wear masks indoors; pandemic will get worse

As Gov. Andy Beshear issued a vaccination-promotion video with one of the latest student winners of the state's vaccine lottery, President Biden's top medical adviser warned that the pandemic will worsen.

“Things are going to get worse” due to the Delta variant of the coronavirus, Dr. Anthony Fauci said on ABC's "This Week" Sunday. “We are looking, not I believe, to lockdown, but we are looking to some pain and suffering in the future because we are seeing the cases go up.”

Anthony Fauci (CBS image)

Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said “The solution to this is, get vaccinated.”

Fauci and other experts stressed that vaccines are still doing the job even though the Delta variant is infecting some vaccinated people, who can spread the virus without knowing the have it.

“Almost invariably they get minimal symptoms or no symptoms at all,” but new research shows they average about the same level of virus in their nasal pharynx as they unvaccinated, so that's why vaccinated people need to wear masks indoors, Fauci said on CBS's "Face The Nation."

“If you do get infected, the likelihood of you getting a severe outcome of the infection is very low … so the vaccine is doing what you want it to do: it’s preventing people from getting sick,” Fauci said.

Looking at it another way, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that fewer than 0.1% of the 164 million vaccinated Americans have been infected with the virus, and only 0.001% of the vaccinated have died.

Speaking to the 100 million Americans who haven't been vaccinated though they are eligible, Fauci said, “If you're going to be part of the transmission chain to someone else, then your decision is impacting someone else. It's not only impacting you. And you've got to think about it, that you are a member of society and you have a responsibility.”

Vaccinations are increasing. In Kentucky, the CDC reported Sunday that 15,482 doses were given Saturday, the highest daily number in almost five weeks but still below the levels seen in most of May. The seven-day rolling average is 8,738 doses per day, a third higher than the previous week.

Chart by The Washington Post based on Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data

Citing research showing virus is as contagious as chickenpox, Beshear again asks all schools to enforce universal masking

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

By Melissa Patrick and Al Cross
Kentucky Health News

Before announcing the new winners of the state's second vaccine-incentive lottery, Gov. Any Beshear went over the findings of an internal federal health document that says the Delta variant of the coronavirus can spread as easily as chickenpox, appears to cause more severe illness, and can be spread among fully vaccinated people who get the virus. 

"It is one of the most transmissible viruses that they have ever seen, significantly more so than the alpha variant," the first one of significance, Beshear said at the vaccine event. "What this says is we can't just be normal at the moment, and this thing will spread wider and faster than anything that we have seen to date." 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention documents from a slide presentation were obtained by The Washington Post, which reports they convey the struggles of convincing Americans to get vaccinated and the need for the agency to revamp its public messaging around vaccination against a variant that is "so contagious that it acts almost like a different novel virus." 

The slides say the Delta variant is more transmissible than MERS & SARS, Ebola, the common cold, the seasonal flu, the 1918 "Spanish" flu, and smallpox. 

The documents, which were to be released Friday, cite data and research showing vaccinated people who are infected with the Delta variant may be able to transmit the virus as easily as those who are unvaccinated. Beshear said that's what prompted the CDC to change its guidance to recommend that vaccinated people should also wear masks indoors in areas with high transmission rates, which includes almost all of Kentucky. 

Fully vaccinated people are less likely to get the virus and less likely to suffer from serious harm or die from it, Beshear said, but "While you might be safe, you might end up harming somebody else" and that's why it's important for vaccinated folks to wear a mask too. 

"If everybody was vaccinated, this thing wouldn't be a problem," he said. "We've got to understand that the guidance didn't change, the virus changed." 

He also called on schools that are not enforcing universal masking to reconsider doing so, noting that an Atlanta school that has already started classes has had to quarantine more than 100 students in the first week. 

"With this new information, I'm calling on school districts that have thus far said that they are not going to require masking to reconsider, because they will fail," Beshear said. "And it'll be the students that lose out on in-person learning."

The good news is that vaccination rates are picking up in Kentucky, although slightly. "Vaccines plus masks equals the win," Beshear said. "Let's make sure we do it." 

Daily numbers: The state reported 1,648 new cases of the virus Friday, about the same as the last two days. That raised the seven-day rolling average to 1,213, the highest since Feb. 25.

The state's new-case rate over the last seven days was 25.9 per 100,000, putting it in the "critical" area for transmission of the virus.

The share of Kentuckian testing positive for the virus in the last seven days is 8.96%, double what it was two weeks ago. Counties with rates more than double the state rate are Clay, 120; Jackson, 89; Muhlenberg, 67.6; Letcher, 61; Knox, 56.4; Floyd, 55.4; Laurel, 55.2;and Knott, 50.2.

Hospitalizations continued to rise. Kentucky hospitals reported 625 Covid-19 patients, double the total of less than two weeks ago; 195 of them were in intensive care and 85 were on mechanical ventilation.

The Lake Cumberland hospital-readiness region reported 91% of its intensive-care beds in use, with 29% of the patients suffering from Covid-19. Both percentages were the highest in the state.

The state reported seven Covid-19 deaths, the most on almost two weeks, bringing the total to 7,334.

Shot-at-a-million winners: The winner of the $1 million prize is Ginger Schultz from Louisville, who encouraged all Kentuckians to get vaccinated. 

“I've never experienced anything like this. It’s shocking because you don’t really think you’re going to win,” said  Schultz. “Why take a chance at getting very sick and possibly die or passing it on to someone else? That’s what my main concern was. My mom is 85 and she has breathing issues and I was always very concerned about her getting it or passing it on to her.”

The five Kentucky youth selected for full postscondary-education scholarships are Shelby Anderson of Louisville; Isabella Brozak of Crestwood; TJ Ponder of Owenton; Reese Johnson of Harrodsburg; and Julian Sandberg of Ft. Mitchell.

The final drawing will be held Aug. 26 and will be announced the next day. Permanent residents of Kentucky who have received at least one dose of a vaccine can enter the lottery at shotatamillion.ky.gov. 

Beshear calls for universal masking in schools, following CDC; Stack calls Kentucky 'horribly inflamed' with coronavirus

Kentucky Health News graph, based on state's initial, unadjusted daily reports; click on it to enlarge.

By Melissa Patrick

Kentucky Health News

Gov. Andy Beshear and Health Commissioner Steven Stack updated the state's mask guidance Thursday to call for universal masking in schools, regardless of vaccination status, following new federal guidance.

Beshear tacitly acknowledged that the advice is controversial: "Now, I know that people are tired. I'm tired, too. I know that people are frustrated. I'm frustrated too. We're strong enough to do this. We are resilient enough to do this. And we are compassionate enough to where we know that we have to do this."

He said Kentuckians' decisions about masking will be critical, due to aggressive spread of a more contagious coronavirus variant. "Places that haven't taken steps are seeing results that we should know by now: widespread outbreaks, clusters, large amounts of quarantines," he said at his weekly briefing.  

Asked about school districts that have said they would not require universal masking, Beshear asked them to consider the science that clearly indicates such policies will limit Covid-19 cases and subsequent quarantines in both classrooms and extracurricular activities, including sports.

Beshear suggested that school districts could be liable for sickness and death if they don't follow guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that is based on research showing that vaccinated people can acquire the virus and spread it without having symptoms. He called that "the game changer."

"You teach science in your classroom," he said. "You should have to consider it when making decisions."

Beshear said he isn't considering a mask mandate, but would act based on how the surge in cases goes. The difference between this surge and before, he said, is that people have access to vaccines that work.

Asked if he would require state employees to get vaccinated, as some states and the federal government are doing, Beshear said he would not, but is looking at the possibility of requiring them to have regular tests, a federal alternative. Wednesday, he required all in the vicinity of others in state offices to wear a mask. 

Beshear said the mask recommendations are temporary and will be removed when it is safe to do so, as he did before. He said there is a simple equation that will keep Kentuckians at work, school and play: "more people getting vaccinated, and when you need to, wear a mask."

Without such prevention efforts, Beshear said the more contagious Delta variant will spread through unvaccinated workplaces and classrooms, disrupting education and slowing economic growth through loss of productivity and frequent quarantines.

Dept. for Public Health map, adapted by Ky. Health News; click to enlarge

Stack displayed color-coded maps that showed on June 28 there were no "red zone" counties in Kentucky, but on July 28 there were 36. Now it's 41. A red-zone county has more than 25 daily cases per 100,000 people over seven days and is considered to be at a "critical" level for transmission of the virus. 

“We have changed in the blink of an eye from a quiet, calm state to a horribly inflamed state,” said Stack. “We all know what we need to do . . . We all need to get vaccinated."

He said that since March 1, 94.5% of Covid-19 cases, 91.8% of Covid-19 hospitalizations and 88.8% of Covid-19 deaths in Kentucky were among unvaccinated or partially vaccinated or unvaccinated people.

Local health-department director Crystal Miller also spoke at the news briefing, encouraging Kentuckians to remember the beginning of the pandemic, when her home Harrison County had the first case and everyone had the same goal and was willing to do what it takes to protect themselves and their loved ones. 

“Somehow we’ve grayed those lines. We’ve gotten away from that mission," she said. "It’s been a long 16 months. It’s been frustrating. It’s exhausting. But the difference between March 6 and today is that we have a solution. We know exactly what works: vaccines and masking."

Stack and Miller asked Kentuckians to seek out reliable sources and trusted experts for information about the virus and the vaccines. Stack said, "Don't look to cable [TV] sources for your medical advice, period. Don't look to social media for your medical guidance, period. If we would do that, he said there would be no controversy or debate and we could get over this pandemic a lot faster." 

Republican pushback: Three Republicans who lead independent state agencies, and may run for Beshear's job in 2023, said they would not enforce the Democrat's mask mandate for state workers. Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles' chief of staff, Keith Rogers, said they "will continue to leave it up to employees to decide for themselves whether to wear a mask while at work," Daniel Desrochers reports for the Lexington Herald-Leader.

State Auditor Mike Harmon said likewise Wednesday; Treasurer Allison Ball followed suit Thursday, saying: "The Treasury has a very high rate of vaccination among its employees, and the staff has been extremely responsible both in monitoring their own health, and in not placing their fellow employees at undue risk."

Mike Wynn, a spokesman for the Legislative Research Commission, said the legislature will stick to the mask policy it implemented on May 23, which said vaccinated people do not need to wear a mask, Desrochers reports.

Beshear said he can't discipline employees who work for separate constitutional officers, but warned that they will face a greater risk of getting sick. He said it's more important to do the right thing than to "try to score political points," and noted that the new-case rate in Franklin County skyrocketed this month. 

"I care more about the people than my popularity," he said. "I've got the backbone to do what's right for them, and wish other people did too."

Vaccinations: Beshear noted the slight uptick in vaccinations in Kentucky. CDC data presented by The Washington Post showed 10,048 shots were given Wednesday, the most since July 11. The seven-day average is 7,563.

"It does appear that the seriousness of the Delta variant is getting through to some folks who haven't been vaccinated yet," Beshear said.

Beshear said he thought the state is having success with its vaccine lottery, which held its second drawing Thursday. The winners will be announced Friday; an adult will win $1 million and five youth will get full postsecondary-education scholarships. The final set of winners will be announced Aug. 27. 

Asked if the state was working on any other incentive programs to get more Kentuckians vaccinated, Beshear said they were looking at different options and noted that there were more and more private incentives being offered. "The Delta variant ought to encourage them to do more," he said. 

Daily numbers: The state reported 1,618 new cases of the virus Thursday, with 328 (20%) in people 18 and under. That raised the seven-day rolling average by nearly 100, to 1,120 -- the highest in six months. 

The percentage of Kentuckians testing positive for the virus in the past seven days rose for the 33rd straight day, to 8.55%. Two more Kentuckians have died from Covid-19, bringing the death toll to 7,327. 

The statewide rate of daily new cases over the last seven days is 23.63 per 100,000 residents, very near the "critical" level of 25. Counties with rates more than double the statewide rate are Clay, 113.4; Jackson, 82.5; Muhlenberg, 57.8; Laurel, 57.8; Letcher, 57.7; Floyd, 52.6; Webster, 51.9; and 

Hopkins, 47.3.

Hospitalizations for Covid-19 continued to rise. Kentucky hospitals reported 608 patients with Covid-19, with 189 of them in intensive care and 82 of those on mechanical ventilation.

As surge continues, Beshear won't rule out new measures, makes red-zone recommendations, says schools face 'difficult questions'

State Dept. for Public Health graph, with ratios added by Ky. Health News, shows how the infection rate declined as the vaccination rate increased, and while the Delta variant has broken through in some vaccinated people, the infection rate among unvaccinated people is still five times higher.

By Al Cross

Kentucky Health News

With Kentucky averaging almost 1,000 new cases of the coronavirus a day, Gov. Andy Beshear said Thursday that he is willing to re-impose restrictions to thwart the resurgence of the pandemic, and issued new cautions for counties than have reach what the state calls a critical level of virus spread.

"We're not gonna be afraid to make the tough decision if it's merited," he said, adding later, "If I think we have to take steps to save lives, we're gonna do it."

He disputed claims that he lacks power to issue emergency mandates, but pointed out that "Our world's entirely different" than it was when he imposed a mask mandate and other restrictions last summer because "people can now protect themselves" with a vaccine, "so our decision calculus will be very different."

Beshear displayed statistics showing that since March 1, unvaccinated Kentuckians have accounted for 95 percent of new cases in the state, 92% of hospitalizations and 89% of deaths.

He said his decisions on restrictions would be based on the number of hospitalizations, "what the outcomes are and how sick individuals are. We will also be looking at the breakthrough rate," the percentage of new cases among vaccinated people. "We're going to see how this goes pretty quickly."

He said vaccines provide "some pretty significant protection for you" against the more contagious Delta variant, but "If you are unvaccinated, it is the deadliest form of Covid we have seen." He noted that Dr. Scott Gottlieb, head of the Food and Drug Administration under Donald Trump, said unvaccinated people should expect to catch the virus and have the worst illness they have ever had.

Asked what he would tell vaccinated people about the variant, Beshear said the vaccines "provide very serious protection" against getting it, and even if you get it, "They provide you significant protection form getting really sick or dying." He said vaccinated people should "Take the steps you feel like you need," such as wearing a mask when grocery shopping.

Health Commissioner Steven Stack, a physician, said medically vulnerable people "should try to avoid gathering with unvaccinated folks. Even if you’re vaccinated, if you are around a lot of unvaccinated folks, you’re increasing your risk of being around someone with a very high viral load . . . and being one of those unlucky few who does get hurt even though you’re vaccinated."

Stack said, "There's no debate among anyone who looks at science and fact seriously: The vaccines work, they protect you, and if you couple that with some other simple steps if you're vulnerable, like wear a mask, wash your hands and keep some distance, you can go out in the world and enjoy your life again, not like we were last year."

Hotspots: The state reported 933 new cases of the virus Thursday, making a three-day average of 983 and a seven-day average of 649, which was a 9% jump from Wednesday. Beshear said he expects the state to have more cases in the current Monday-through-Sunday reporting week than last week.

State Department for Public Health

Thirteen of the 120 counties are now in red on the state's infection map, meaning they have seven-day new-case rates above 25 per 100,000, which the map labels "critical." Beshear issued several recommendations for such counties, including postponement of large public events.

Asked if that includes athletic contests or religious gatherings, the governor said those in charge should consider the size of the event, precautions such as distancing and masking, and the ability to move the event outside and reduce capacity. "Our goal here is to highlight the concern about what large events can do, 'cause we've had . . . more clusters [of cases] than at any time since the vaccine was introduced."

He said most of the recent clusters have been among people under 50, and displayed an updated table of vaccinations by age.

DPH chart, adapted by KHN

Because of low vaccination rates among younger people, the Delta variant's greater impact on them (24 percent of Thursday's new cases were 18 and younger) and the inability of children under 12 to be vaccinated, school districts face some tough decisions as they prepare to resume classes. The state and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have recommended masks for the unvaccinated in schools, but at this point any mandates are up to school districts.

Kentucky Health News asked Beshear if he is considering doing what a fellow Democrat, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper did this week: require students in grades K-8 to wear masks. "We will have to look at and answer that question," in cooperation with the Kentucky Department of Education, he said.

"We're gonna be talking with KDE later this week," Beshear said. "I think there are some difficult questions we have to address. . . . I see a whole lot of people gearing up because they want to have some fight about this, but the basic facts are, if you want your kids to be in school every day of the next year, the only way to make sure that happens is to get them vaccinated or to make sure that there are other protections in place."

Education Commissioner Jason Glass told Lexington's WKYT-TV that he is encouraging districts to follow the CDC guidance, and notes that they might incur legal liability for Covid-19 cases if they don't.

Vaccination persuasion: Though school is fast approaching, vaccinations in Kentucky have been at a low level for weeks, and over the past week are averaging about 6,000 per day.

Asked what can be done to get more people vaccinated, Beshear said, "I know you're not going to take it from me at this point. . . . We're at a point where those who are unvaccinated aren't listening to any public official." 

He said vaccination persuasion has to come from local leaders and friends of the unvaccinated: "We need every individual to make a few more efforts to talk to their friends and family."

Stack said that when making those efforts, "You can't be judgmental" or "try to tell them you know better."

Also, Beshear said, there needs to be more communication between doctors and patients. "People aren't actually calling their doctors and talking to them about it," he said.

To encourage vaccination, the state is holding three lottery-style drawings at which one adult wins $1 million and 10 children win full scholarships for post-secondary education. The first was held July 2. 

Beshear said almost 700,000 vaccinated adults and almost 40,000 vaccinated children have signed up, about a third of the vaccinated population. "We do believe that this drawing working, at least to some degree," he said. The second and third drawings will be July 29 and Aug. 26.

Employees of nursing homes, which house people who are most vulnerable to the virus, have about the same vaccination rate as the entire population. Few nursing homes have required employees to be vaccinated, saying they are afraid to lose employees when they are short of help. The American Hospital Association said Thursday that it stands behind members who require vaccinations.

Beshear has said he would not mandate vaccination of anyone. Kentucky Health News asked him if incentives to the employees might get more of them vaccinated. "That's an interesting question," he said. "Let us think about that." He said he supports any employer who requires vaccinations.

Daily numbers: The share of Kentuckians testing positive for the virus in the last seven days rose for the 28th day in a row, to 6.63%. Stack said the increase is concerning.

The seven-day infection rate rose for the 16th consecutive day, to 13.87 per 100,000 residents. Counties with rates more than double that rate are all in the red zone: Washington, 41.3; Muhlenberg, 40.1; Webster, 39.7; Clay, 38.8; Laurel, 35.7; Hart, 34.5; Hopkins, 32.9; Hancock, 31.1; Whitley, 29.2; Jackson, 28.9; Floyd, 28.9; and Barren, 27.8. Letcher, at 27.2, is also in the red zone.

Hospitalizations also continued to increase. Kentucky hospitals reported 423 Covid-19 patients, the most since May 12; 124 of them are in intensive care and 50 are on a ventilator.

The state reported two more Covid-19 deaths, raising the pandemic toll to 7,308.

Where in Ky. is vaccine resistance highest? New interactive tools can help communities target education and outreach efforts

Adapted screenshot of University of Washington interactive map (click here); click map to enlarge it. 

By Melissa Patrick

Kentucky Health News

It's easy to find your locality's coronavirus vaccination rate, but what about its vaccine hesitancy rate, or local interest in vaccination? Two new interactive tools reveal those numbers.

One uses data gathered by polling done through Facebook; the other shows the relative interest in vaccination shown by online searches. 

The Facebook-gathered data are in interactive maps from the University of Washington, showing what counties (and even what Zip codes) are most hesitant to get a shot.

The maps by the university's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation reflect answers to this question: "If a vaccine to prevent Covid-19 were offered to you today, would you choose to get vaccinated?" The answers are "Definitely," "Probably," "Probably not" and "Definitely not." People giving one of the last three answers are considered vaccine-hesitant.

The maps do not break down the data by individual answers, but are interactive, and can be switched to show the percentage of people saying "Probably" and "Probably not." That allows simple subtraction to produce the "Definitely not" figure for each area. 

Another tool, called Google Covid-19 Vaccination Search Insights, uses aggregated, anonymized data from Google searches about vaccination. The weekly data is available by region and by county. 

The trends reflect relative interest, broken down three ways: overall interest, vaccination intent, and safety and side effects. Click here to learn more about how the researchers process the data. 

Another tool to help communities get their people vaccinated is the Vaccine Equity Planner, designed by Ariadne Labs and Boston Children's Hospital,  to identify "vaccine desserts" where people have little or no convenient access to the Covid-19 vaccination. 

How can these tools help? 

With barely half of Kentucky's population having received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine and 61% of its adults having done so, the state still has work to do to reach the 70% level, the amount generally thought necessary to create herd immunity. 

Among Kentucky's 120 counties, 31 have one-third or fewer of their residents vaccinated, and only have reached a solid 50%, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Data Tracker. The  bottom five counties are Spencer (22.6%), Christian (25.4%), Jackson (26.1%), Ballard (26.2%) and Lewis (26.2 %). 

As Kentucky health officials work to get the other half of the state vaccinated, the information gleaned in these Covid-19 vaccine hesitancy tools can provide them with information to help design and evaluate public education campaigns and outreach efforts targeted specifically to people in their communities.

Resistance falls in some places, rises in others

The Facebook survey shows that in Spencer County, which has usually raked last in Covid-19 vaccinations, 9.13% of survey respondents in January said they would definitely not get the vaccine if it was offered. The week ending July 1, that number had dropped only slightly, to 8.51%.  

(That number was calculated by subtracting the total for the somewhat-hesitant category, those who answered "Yes, probably" and "No, probably not," from the "All" category, which includes those who answered "Yes, probably," "No, probably not," and "No, definitely not.")

In the same six-month period, among the other four counties with the lowest vaccination rates, Christian County showed the greatest decrease in those who said they would definitely not get vaccinated. The figure moved from 28% in January to 12% in July. Ballard County also saw a drop, from 22.49% to 17.56%.

But on the other side of the state, in Appalachia, heavily rural Jackson and Lewis counties saw increases in the share of respondents who said they would definitely not get a vaccine. Jackson County's vaccine resistance increased from 20.9% to 24.1%, and Lewis County's rose from 21.5% to 39.6%. 

To get a broader geographic sample, Kentucky Health News checked two counties in Southern Kentucky that are part of official Appalachia but fully outside the Eastern Kentucky Coal Field.

Metcalfe County showed a huge increase in vaccine hesitancy, with the percentage of respondents who said they would definitely not get a vaccine increasing from 13% in January to 33% by July 1. 

But the next county to the east, Adair, showed a decrease in vaccine resistance, moving from 23.3% in January to 17.5% in July.

The survey found that fewer people said they were resistant to getting shot in Laurel and Clay counties too. In Laurel, that number dropped from 27.16% who said they would definitely not get a shot during the first week of January to 23.85%. In Clay, that number dropped from 23.21% to 16.42%. 

Google Covid-19 Vaccination Search Insights

The Google Covid-19 Vaccination Search Insights tool showed that Kentucky's internet searches related to the eligibility, availability and accessibility of Covid-19 vaccines were among the nation's highest in the week ending July 4. 

This surge in searches for intent to get vaccinated was likely driven by the distribution of the first lottery-style incentive for Kentuckians who had received at least one dose of a vaccine and signed up for it. The next million-dollar prize and five post-secondary scholarships will be held July 29, with the announcements made the next day. Go to shotatamillion.ky.gov for more information. 

Google graph shows searches in Spencer County June 21-28.

The Google tool also has trends for each county. For example, searches showing interest and intent to get vaccinated increased in Spencer County between June 21 and June 28. 

In the same week, Laurel County also saw a jump in general Covid-19 vaccination searches and an even bigger jump in searches for intent to get vaccinated. Searches for safety and side effects from the vaccine declined.

Adair County saw a dip in its general vaccine-information searches, but saw an increase in searches for intent to get vaccinated. 

The interactive map shows that in the week ending July 4, searches for intent to get vaccinated were highest in McLean, Marion, Washington, Boyle, Woodford, Montgomery, Nicholas and Bracken counties.

The trend-graphics for the state also show the highest and lowest Google searches for each of the three categories in each Kentucky county. For example, on June 28, searches for intent to get vaccinated were highest in Nicholas County and lowest in Christian County.

Here's a screenshot of the state's vaccination tracker map:

State Dept. for Public Health map, adapted by Ky. Health News; interactive version is here.

As more contagious variant of coronavirus becomes dominant, Ky. positive-test rate has increased by over half in last two weeks

Kentucky Health News graph, from state Department for Public Health data

By Melissa Patrick

Kentucky Health News

As cases of the coronavirus and the share of Kentuckians testing positive for it tick up, and a more contagious strain becomes dominant, Gov. Andy Beshear and his health commissioner said vaccinations are the way forward.  

“We had eight consecutive weeks of decreasing cases in Kentucky that was interrupted last week by an increase,” Health Commissioner Steven Stack said at the governor's weekly press conference. He also noted that the share of Kentuckians testing positive for the virus is also on the rise, increasing by more than a full percentage point in the last nine days. On Thursday, that rate was 2.92%.  

"I think those are real increases," he said. "Now the real question will be will the vaccines help to keep those at lower levels and will it keep the hospitals and the ICUs from getting filled up and will it keep people safe and protected from serious permanent harm and or death." 

Stack encouraged Kentuckians to not become complacent about the virus, noting that in the span of eight weeks, the much more contagious Delta variant's percentage of U.S. cases has tripled every two weeks, and is projected to be 51% in the two weeks ending July 22, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

Beshear said, "We know the Delta variant is moving in and is at a higher rate. People who are unvaccinated at this point need to assess their risk that they will get the Delta variant and not anything else. And unvaccinated people who won't get the vaccine and aren't wearing masks, at this point ought to assume in their risk calculation that they are going to get Covid of some sort." 

Stack said there are 26 confirmed cases of the variant in Kentucky. He said it is known to spread two and a half times more quickly than the original virus and may be more dangerous than the other variants. 

"Here's the bottom line," he said. "The single thing you can do to protect yourself and protect all of us is to get vaccinated."

The Delta variant has been widely reported Kentucky, in these counties: Bullitt, Caldwell, Christian, Fayette (2 cases), Hardin, Jackson, Jefferson (7), Kenton, Laurel, McCracken (2), Meade (2), Morgan (4) and Oldham (2).

Beshear said it's important to remember that few cases are genome-sequenced to identify the variant, and he anticipates the overall number of Delta cases in Kentucky is similar to the rest of the nation, around 50%. 

Asked why the state did not have access to specific percentages for the Delta variant, Beshear first noted that calculating a percentage from 26 confirmed cases would not be accurate, and considering the cost of genomic sequencing, he said he supports the CDC's decision to extrapolate because Kentucky isn't that different than other locations.

The Woodford County Health Department says it is having genomic testing done in cases of an outbreak that health officials say is likely related to a gathering at a church, which they did not name, WLEX-TV reports.

State Dept. for Public Health graph; to enlarge, click on it.

In another push for vaccinations, Stack showed a bar graph of cases among Kentuckians who had been vaccinated and unvaccinated, noting that the risk of getting the virus is reduced by four- to eight-fold for those who are vaccinated.

"The more of us who get vaccinated, the fewer bodies are out there for the virus to multiply in, and the overall burden of disease goes down," he said.  

Daily update: The state reported 337 new cases on Thursday, bringing the seven-day average to 196. That is the average for the last 24 days, but the average fell to 163 on June 28 and has increased most days since. The state reported three more deaths from Covid-19, bringing the death toll to 7,253. 

Kentucky hospitals reported 241 Covid-19 patients, with 64 of them in intensive care and 32 of those on a ventilator. None of the state's 10 hospital readiness regions are using 80% of their intensive-care units. 

The statewide rate for coronavirus cases is 4.1 cases per 100,000 residents. That's where the rate was on June 15; it declined to 3.13 on June 27 but has risen most days since.

Counties with rates double the state rate are Livingston, 17.1; Martin, 15.3; Carter, 13.3; Hopkins, 12.8; Muhlenberg, 12.6; Grayson, 10.8; Woodford, 10.7; Grant, 10.3; Webster, 9.9; Graves, 9.6; Carlisle, 9.0; and Pike, 8.4.

Mask mandate: Asked why he was hesitant to reinstate the mask mandate in indoor spaces, especially with the rise in the Delta variant, increasing positivity rate and its slight uptick in cases, Beshear said that would be "premature right now" and ticked off a list of reasons, including: between 83% and 86% of the state's most vulnerable seniors are vaccinated; 50% of the state's population has received at least one dose of a vaccine; the state's hospital capacity remains stable; and national experts are not suggesting that such a mandate is necessary.

Beshear said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told governors Tuesday that the number one thing to push right now is vaccines. 

"We're always going to be flexible. We're always going to watch this, but I'm not at a point where I think we need to put in any type of mandate," Beshear said. "But I do want to be clear that since we removed the mask mandate, we said if you're not vaccinated, and you're indoors with a group of people other than your family, wear masks, and that hadn't gone away." 

Vaccine lottery: Beshear continues to encourage Kentuckians to get vaccinated and to sign up to be included in the vaccine lottery drawings to be held July 29 and August 26, with the winners announced the following days. At each drawing, one adult will win $1 million and five students will be awarded a full postsecondary education scholarship. To learn more or to register, go to shotatamillion.ky.gov. 

So far, Beshear said, 660,721 adults and 36,800 youth have signed up for the lottery. Over 2.2 million Kentuckians have received at least one dose of a vaccine, which Stack is a "wonderful success," but "We need to do more." That amounts to 50% of the state's total population, 61% of adults, and 83% of seniors.

Team Kentucky Memorial: Beshear said 11 finalists have been selected to submit in-depth proposals for a memorial to honor Kentuckians who have died from Covid-19. He said six of the finalists are either from Kentucky or have close ties to the state. 

"When the first case of Covid was confirmed in Kentucky, few of us could have imagined the staggering impact and heartbreaking loss that we would experience. Now more than a year later, we've lost over 7,250 people," Beshear said. 

In addition, the state is establishing a community advisory panel among Kentuckians who have been most impacted by Covid-19 to provide input on the design proposals. The panel will include family members and loved ones of those lost to the virus, as well as health-care workers, first responders and survivors. Anyone interested in being part of the panel should visit tah.ky.gov. 

Meanwhile, Kentucky families who have lost loved ones to the virus can come get a memorial flag from the Capitol grounds if they would like to have one. Anyone who needs assistance in getting a flag can contact the Office of Constituent Services at 502-564-2611 to request a flag be sent to them. The deadline to get or request a flag is July 15. 

The memorial is estimated to cost upwards of $300,000 and will be funded by private donations.