State reports 948 new coronavirus cases, the third most in a day, and its positive-test rate jumps toward 5% danger zone

State Department for Public Health map, relabeled by Kentucky Health News

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

Gov. Andy Beshear announced 948 new cases of the novel coronavirus Friday and a positive test rate that is inching back up toward the danger zone of 5 percent. 

“This is the third highest number of positive cases we’ve ever had in a single day,”  Beshear said in his Friday news release. “Our positivity rate is also going up.”

Beshear warned early in the week that the state's case numbers would likely increase near the end of the week after coming off a holiday weekend. He also cautioned that the effects of the holiday weekend wouldn't be seen for several weeks. 

The seven-day average of Kentuckians testing positive for the virus was 4.70% Friday, up from 4.14% Thursday and the highest since the same seven-day rate was reported Sept. 4. 

"We want to make sure that we push that down and ultimately we get our cases in a downward trajectory," Beshear said in a Facebook post. 

Of today's new cases, 151 were Kentuckians 18 and younger, 24 of them five and under. The youngest  was a 1-month-old from Jefferson County. 

Beshear announced nine more covid-19 deaths Friday, raising the state's toll to 1,044. 

The fatalities were a 67-year-old woman from Barren County; an 85-year-old man from Christian County; a 62-year-old man from Hopkins County; an 82-year-old woman from Lincoln County; a 76-year-old woman from Marion County; a 58-year-old man from Oldham County; a 76-year-old man from Pulaski County; and two women, 78 and 82, from Todd County.

“Remember other people’s health and lives are on the line and we need you to do your part,” said Beshear. “Do your patriotic duty. Wear your mask. Social distance. So little is being asked of us in this crisis. It just takes a little bit to be a hero right now.”

Counties with more than 10 new cases Friday were Jefferson, 168; Fayette, 82; Warren, 73; Madison, 47; Christian, 43; Hardin, 34; Pulaski, 27; Boyd, 17; Calloway, McCracken and Nelson, 16 each; Grayson and Harlan, 15 each; Oldham, 13; Boone, Campbell, Henderson, Jackson and Marshall, 12 each; and Clinton, Daviess, Franklin and Shelby, 11 each.

In other covid-19 news Friday:

• The daily report shows 549 people were hospitalized for covid-19 in Kentucky and 124 of them were in intensive care.
• The long-term care report showed 51 more residents and 36 more staff have tested positive for the virus, with 523 residents and 329 staff having active cases of it. The report showed 589 resident and five staff deaths from the virus. 
• The K-12 school report showed nine more students and seven more staff had tested positive, with 384 students and 161 staff having active cases. 
• The college and university report showed 32 more students and three more staff testing positive, with 1,093 students and 49 staff having active cases.  
• The Office of Unemployment Insurance began processing the first week of FEMA’s Lost Wages Program for the weeks of July 26 to Aug. 15. Kentuckians who are eligible to received the extra $400 a week in unemployment benefits will begin receiving it in their accounts in the next two to three days, according to the release. Click here for more information about this program. 
• Eating out is riskier than other activities in the pandemic, says a study published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
• Many Americans are ignoring the need to get tested for the coronavirus after they are in high-risk situations, especially on college campuses, Michael Osterholm, director of the University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, told CBS News. CBS affiliate WKYT said health officials in Lexington have noticed the same problem.

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8 nursing homes have had 1/3 of Ky. covid-19 deaths; one thing they had in common was having relatively few registered nurses

Stanford Care and Rehabilitation reported only 23 minutes of registered-nurse care per patient day in the last quarter of 2019. It's had many deficiencies, and 18 of its residents have died of covid-19.

Almost 600 residents of Kentucky long-term-care facilities have died of covid-19, and almost a third of those fatalities have been residents of just eight nursing homes. The homes have at least one thing in common: relatively few registered nurses, reports John Cheves of the Lexington Herald-Leader.

Nursing homes in Kentucky reported averaging 45 minutes of registered-nurse staff time for each resident day in the last three months of 2019, "the most recent period for which data is available from the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services," Cheves reports.

But the eight with the most deaths "reported an average of only 24 minutes," he reports. "For example, Landmark of Louisville Rehabilitation and Nursing — with 18 deaths so far attributed to covid-19 — reported just 12 minutes of RN staff time per resident daily, the lowest of the group."

The other seven, their deaths and average RN times are Rosedale Green, Covington, 29, 16 minutes; Florence Park Care Center, 25, 16 minutes; Stanford Care and Rehabilitation, 18, 23 minutes; Pine Meadows, Lexington, 25, 27 minutes; Mills Nursing and Rehabilitation, Mayfield, 23, 29 minutes; Ridgewood Terrace, Madisonville, 24, 33 minutes; and Essex Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, Louisville, 21, 37 minutes.

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Most of the eight "are owned by for-profit corporations or privately run investment portfolios," and most "had low quality ratings from the federal government and infection control problems well before the novel coronavirus began to kill large numbers of their residents last spring," Cheves reports. "But beyond these other common threads, the link between registered-nurse staffing levels and covid-19 infections and deaths at nursing homes has been identified in several studies."

The author of the latest study, Charlene Harrington, nursing professor emeritus at the University of California-San Francisco, told Cheves, “Nursing homes without enough RNs find themselves in trouble. It results in terrible quality of care, even when you’re not in the middle of a pandemic.”

Kentucky RNs earn about $21,000 a year more than licensed practical nurses or licensed vocational nurses, Cheves reports, and "usually are the only ones on a nursing-home staff qualified to create an infection-control plan, spot and assess infections and determine who should see a doctor or go to the hospital, Harrington said."

Kentucky’s state long-term care ombudsman, Sherry Culp, told Cheves that some nursing-home chains save money by rotating nurses between facilities and not assigning them to individual locations, which requires more nurses. The main nursing-home lobby in the state, the Kentucky Association of Health Care Facilities, didn't respond to a call seeking comment, Cheves reports.

Federal law requires nursing homes to have "sufficient" staff to meet residents’ needs, "including a licensed nurse — an RN, LPN or LVN — on duty at all times," Cheves notes. "Some states set their own more rigorous staffing standards for nursing homes, but Kentucky long has resisted such calls, dismissing them as impractical."

Rep. Kimberly Poore Moser, R-Taylor Mill, chair of the Health and Family Services Committee in the state House, told Cheves, “It’s critical that we have enough qualified staff, but it’s really hard to hire and retain qualified staff when the salaries just aren’t competitive.”

Nursing-home watchdog Wanda Delaplane "said the General Assembly should be shocked enough by the hundreds of coronavirus deaths in nursing homes to finally pass staffing requirements," just as it does with adult supervisors in child-care centers, Cheves writes, quoting her: “It all comes down to the fact that you can’t give good care if there aren’t enough people on the floor to provide it.”

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Local health departments are the pandemic's main flak catchers, especially on social media, which at least one has stopped using

Local health departments, often underfunded, have been critical during the pandemic in may ways, one as an information source for the public, journalists, and state and federal agencies. "But as the virus has become more politicized and fringe theories are fanned, including by President Donald Trump, many in public health are finding themselves bumping up against a new, time-consuming demand: correcting the record for people peddling misinformation and, at times, policing their threatening and offensive language," Alex Acquisto reports for the Lexington Herald-Leader.

Grayson County (Wikipedia)

The 27,000 people of Grayson County looked to the local health department for information and guidance about the spread of the virus, local deaths, and hot spots. The new public health director, Joshua Embry, and his subordinates rose to the occasion, Acquisto reports.

"Like many other local health departments across Kentucky, his team began releasing daily coronavirus dispatches on its official Facebook page, Acquisto reports. "In the spring, Embry, himself, started appearing in front of the camera to give those updates and answer questions. Literally putting his face out there seemed to offer some comfort to his neighbors, many of whom were stuck at home, anxious about what was happening outside."

But because local health departments are often the most accessible face of the government's pandemic response, members of the public sometimes take out their frustration on them. "After a run-of-the-mill video update in late August in which dozens of offensive and explicit comments had to be deleted by staff, one commenter cussed Embry and his team out, accused them of 'fear-mongering,' and then threatened to 'come kill people like you'," Acquisto reports.

After that, Embry stopped most daily social media updates directly and began passing the information to the radio station and two weekly newspapers in the county seat of Leitchfield. Other Kentucky health departments told Acquisto they had caught similar flak on social media.

"In a Facebook post on Aug. 1, staff at Three Rivers District Health Department, which covers Carroll, Gallatin, Owen and Pendleton counties, wrote, “It is a real slap in the face to our exhausted folks to accuse us of deception'." Lake Cumberland District Health Department Director Shawn Crabtree told Acquisto, "People are often driven by misinformation. . . . It’s amazing how many people think I’m in some worldwide conspiracy."

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Ky. has deadliest covid-19 day yet, with 22 fatalities; Beshear gives 'State of the Pandemic' address that touches many bases

The State Police honor guard hung a wreath in the rotunda of the state Capitol Thursday
to honor the more than 1,000 covid-19 victims in Kentucky. (Photo from governor's office) 

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

In what he called a "State of the Pandemic" address, on Kentucky's deadliest day yet, Gov. Andy Beshear reminded his constituents that their actions matter when it comes to protecting each other and the state as a whole.

"We are asking so little, just small but powerful actions that may save somebody's life," he said. "Everything over the coming months – our lives, our economy and our children's education – depends on how we address this virus." 

Beshear's speech, which replaced his daily news conference, was announced Wednesday, as the state's official covid-19 death count passed 1,000. In it, he reported 22 more deaths, setting a daily record and bringing the toll to 1,035. The previous record was 20, on May 19.

The 15-minute address reflected on the course of the pandemic and included remarks professional, political and personal. The governor said most of his decisions have been difficult, and "I am way past politics or concerns about popularity." He added a bit later, "From the beginning, here in Kentucky, we have blazed our own path – not a path of red states or blue states, but a path of our state."

Beshear, a Democrat, narrowly won his job last fall largely because Republican Gov. Matt Bevin was so controversial. The General Assembly is led by Republicans, who frequently criticize the governor's management of the pandemic. Two hours before his speech, a legislative committee ended a two-hour grilling of Health Commissioner Steven Stack.

Beshear said, "I've made the very best decisions that I could, reducing commercial and social gatherings, limiting travel, and most importantly, instituting a statewide mask mandate. All these steps generated criticism. But all of them are working. . . . We beat every prediction."

Beshear noted that the White House Coronavirus Task Force supports the mask mandate, and he reprimanded those who claim the state's covid-19 death rates are inflated since most fatalities are older and have underlying conditions.

"Shame on anybody, including many of our legislators and those that sit online all day who claim those deaths aren't real," he said. "There's one thousand families that will tell you that they are very real and very painful. Let's be better than that."

He said that when the pandemic arrived, "We learned maybe for the first time in our lives that we were all connected. . . . Our actions could result in saving another person’s life, or taking it."

Beshear said he is committed to not experiment with the lives of Kentuckians and that his decisions have been made after watching what happens in other states that were determined to be first. He said more caution will be needed heading into the season of flu, which has symptoms similar to covid-19. 

"We must be extra careful, because we're now fighting covid-19 along with other viruses and diseases that often spike as we approach the fall or the winter, like the flu," he said. The day before, he encouraged Kentuckians to get a flu shot, saying it is one of  the best things they can do while waiting for a vaccine, which is unlikely to be widely available this year.

Beshear announced 805 new cases of the coronavirus Thursday. His news release reported that 122 of them are 18 and younger, and 19 are 5 and under.

The seven-day average of Kentuckians testing positive for the virus inched up to 4.14%, after staying below 4% for two days in a row. 

In other covid-19 news Thursday:

• The fatalities were an 84-year-old man from Barren County; an 86-year-old man from Bullitt County; an 81-year-old man from Campbell County; a 76-year-old woman from Daviess County; a 53-year-old woman from Fayette County; a 78-year-old woman from Grayson County; a 101-year-old woman from Green County; a 55-year-old man from Harlan County; an 80-year-old man and five women, 70, 73, 82, 86 and 102, from Jefferson County; a 100-year-old woman and a 75-year-old man from Marion County; a 60-year-old man from Monroe County; a 77-year-old man from Nelson County; and from Warren County, two women 83 and 90, and two men 82 and 84.
• Counties with 10 or more new cases are Jefferson, 185; Warren, 73; Fayette, 61; Madison, 48; Oldham, 21; Daviess, 18; Hardin and Kenton, 14 each; Boyd, Christian, Grayson and Laurel, 13 each; and Boone, Greenup and Jessamine, 10 each.
• The state's daily report shows 565 people hospitalized in Kentucky for covid-19, and 133 of them in intensive care.
• The daily daily long-term care facility shows 30 more residents and 26 more staff have tested positive for the virus and 496 residents and 325 staff have active cases of it. The death totals from the facilities are 588 residents and five employees. 
• Lexington reported three new deaths Thursday, all from Pine Meadows nursing home, which now has lost 25 residents to covid-19, Jeremy Chisenhall reports for the Lexington Herald-Leader. The long-term-care report shows this facility has one of the highest covid-19 death tolls. 
• The K-12 school report shows 33 more students and seven more staff have tested positive for the virus and 378 students and 156 staff have active cases of it. 
• The college and university report shows 32 institutions now have at least one case of the virus, with 28 more students and six more staff testing positive for the virus. It shows 1,070 students and 46 staff have active cases of the virus. 
• "Democrats blocked Senate Republicans’ whittled-down $300 billion coronavirus aid package from advancing Thursday, as the prospect of passing more relief to households and businesses by Election Day continued to dim," The Wall Street Journal reports. Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, a deficit hawk, was the only "no" GOP vote.
• The University of Kentucky has announced it will allow 12,000 fans, or about 20% of the Kroger Field capacity, at home football games this season. Masks will be required, a maximum of 10 persons will be allowed in suites, and tailgating will not be allowed. The plan is still subject to Beshear's approval. Other in-state schools like the University of Louisville and Western Kentucky University (which will play Saturday night at U of L) have also limited capacity to 20%. No season tickets will be issued, Derek Terry reports for CatsPause. 
• Alex Acquisto of the Herald-Leader reports on the many challenges faced by local health departments as they work to share factual information with their communities about the novel coronavirus. Josh Embry, director of the Grayson County Health Department, told her that comments on social media got so bad that he quit providing daily updates on such platforms. Updates still go to Leitchfield's radio station and two newspapers. Embry wrote on Facebook on Aug. 21, “Due to aggressive comments toward staff at GCHD, inappropriate comments unsuitable for others to read, the GCHD will cease releasing covid-19 data on our social media accounts." Other health departments shared similar stories, Acquisto reports.

Official Ky. covid-19 death count passes 1,000; Beshear says one of the best things to do as we wait for a vaccine is to get a flu shot

Kentucky School Boards Association chart; for a larger version, click on it.

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

Gov. Andy Beshear took the occasion of the state's official count of covid-19 deaths passing 1,000 to reflect on the importance of protecting those most vulnerable to the coronavirus and to remind Kentuckians that each of the dead was loved by their families and friends. 

"Tonight we have the painful news that we have now lost over one thousand Kentuckians, our mothers and fathers, grandmothers and [grandfathers], sisters, brothers, neighbors, to covid-19," Beshear said at his daily briefing. 

Beshear announced 16 new deaths from covid-19, raising the state's death toll to 1,013. The state's official total lags behind numbers reported by local health departments, which indicate the state passed 1,000 deaths more than a week ago, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader. 

After reading the list of today's victims that included one 50-year-old, three in their sixties, five in their seventies, four in their eighties and three in their nineties, Beshear reminded Kentuckians that covid-19 played a part in each of their deaths, regardless of any other health conditions they had: "No matter how old they were, they deserved time. . . . And we owe it to them to work hard to make sure that we limit the future casualties that we have."

EJ Mike and his twin daughters

The governor highlighted the lost life of EJ Mike, a 58-year-old physician's assistant at Louisville VA Medical Center, who died Tuesday, Sept. 8. 

"But more important, he was a loving father to his twin girls, who are only 13," said Beshear. "EJ fought hard for six weeks at Norton Brownsboro [Hospital], during which time he was on a ventilator.”

Asked near the end of his briefing what he would say to those who argue that most of those who have died from covid-19 are older and those who don't believe it is a serious disease, Beshear said, "For those who don't believe this is serious, there's a thousand families you can go talk to." Later adding, "all that does is cause more harm, more loss across the Commonwealth."

In tribute to all of the Kentuckians who have died from covid-19, the Kentucky State Police honor guard will hold another wreath-laying ceremony in the Capitol rotunda at 10 a.m. Thursday. The governor has also ordered all flags on state buildings to fly at half-staff next week. And instead of his daily news briefing tomorrow, Beshear will make an address to Kentuckians at 5:30 pm. 

After noting that one of the things that is being challenged in the Kentucky Supreme Court trial is his mask mandate, Beshear pointed to the latest White House Coronavirus Task Force report that shows more than half of Kentucky's counties are in covid-19 danger zones and recommends Kentucky should keep the requirement statewide.

"There is no room between what the experts at the federal level or at the state level know we need to do, that there needs to be a mask requirement and it needs to be statewide," Beshear said. 

Of the state's 120 counties, 64 of them were in the report's high-risk zones, up from 59 last week. There were 10 more counties, or 24, in the red zone, and five fewer, or 40, in the yellow zone. 

Asked again about Warren County, where the county and Bowling Green schools were among the first to start in-person learning, Beshear said, "The very first county the White House brings up to us each and every time that we have, you know, the one-on-one discussions, is Warren County. They are incredibly worried for for numerous reasons about how the spread there is, is going, about the number of kids under 18 with the spread, and of course you have a large county and a university that are all there together."

Communities in the red zone have a positive-test rate higher than 10% and more than one new case per thousand residents. Yellow-zone places have new cases between 0.1 and 1 per thousand and a positive-test rate of 5% to 10% -- or one of those, with the other in the red zone.

Asked why the state wasn't issuing stronger policies in the red zones, Beshear said that with more than half of the state's really small counties in one of the zones, the federal report suggests statewide policies. 

That said, the report makes stronger recommendations for red and yellow zones when it comes to bars and restaurants, but Beshear said state-specific experts have taken this advice and come up with a plan that allows Kentucky bars to stay open and restaurants to operate at half capacity, along with curfews, to help keep those small businesses afloat. 

The governor again voiced concern that Kentuckians are getting tired of social distancing, wearing masks and keeping their group sizes to less than 10, but urged them to keep it up because he said not doing so will lead to a rise in cases, and that leads to a rise in deaths. The state's death rate from the virus is currently at about 2%.

Beshear announced 667 new cases of the virus Wednesday, a jump that was expected after the holiday weekend when fewer tests were completed. His news release says 88 of them were Kentuckians 18 and younger, of which 16 were children 5 and under. The youngest was 2 months old.

The good news is that the seven-day average of Kentuckians testing positive for the coronavirus remained below 4% for two days in a row. Today's positive test rate of 3.84% is a drop from yesterday's rate of 3.91%. It had been eight weeks since the rate was below 4%.

Flu season is coronavirus season: Beshear said getting a flu shot is one of the most important things Kentuckians can do as they wait for a safe vaccine to be distributed. He stressed that getting a flu shot will help your medical provider discern whether you have the flu or covid-19, which have similar symptoms. 

"Get your flu shot," he said. "The last thing we need is a huge flu outbreak on top of this; that will be incredibly difficult."

Trump revelations: Beshear declined to comment on reports from journalist Bob Woodward's new book that President Donald Trump downplayed the dangers of the novel coronavirus, even though he clearly knew how deadly the airborne virus could be. 

"I haven't read any of it so at this point, I don't believe I can comment on it," he said. 

In other covid-19 news Wednesday:

• The deaths reported Wednesday were of a 62-year-old man from Bell County; two men, 61 and 77, from Bullitt County; a 92-year-old woman from Calloway County; a 94-year-old woman from Fayette County; a 76-year-old man from Garrard County; four men, 50, 66, 79 and 86, and a 70-year-old woman from Jefferson County; a 71-year-old man from Lincoln County; a 90-year-old man from Owen County; an 84-year-old woman from Rowan County; and two men, 81 and 87, from Scott County.
• Beshear said 558 people are hospitalized with covid-19 in Kentucky, 153 of them in intensive care and 76 of those on ventilators.
• Counties with 10 or more new cases were Jefferson, 110; Fayette, 43; Warren, 37; Christian, 32; Laurel, 26; Madison, 23; Henderson, 18; Scott, 16; Hardin, 14; Boone and Kenton, 13 each; Hopkins, 12; and Critttenden, Shelby, Trigg and Union, 10 each.
• The daily long-term care report shows five more residents and 14 more staff have tested positive for the virus, with 480 residents and 319 staff having active cases of it. To date, 587 residents and five staff have died from covid-19. 
• The K-12 school report shows 20 more students and 14 more staff have tested positive for the virus and that 345 students and 149 staff have an active case of it. 
• The college and university report shows 32 more students and four more staff have tested positive for the virus, bringing the number of active cases up to 1,044 for students and 40 for staff. 
• Chicago has added Kentucky to its mandatory quarantine list, Emma Austin reports for the Louisville Courier Journal. That means anyone entering the city after traveling to Kentucky must quarantine for 14 days. Chicago adds states to its list if they see between 15 and 20 daily infections per 100,000 population. Kentucky last week saw its highest total of new cases.

Virus death rate 5 times higher in prisons than state as a whole, even higher when adjusted for age, sex and race; both 3rd in U.S.

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

Kentucky prisons have the third highest covid-19 death rate compared to death rates for the disease among the state's whole population, even after rates are adjusted for the sex, age, race and ethnicity of inmates, says a study from the National Commission on Covid-19 and Criminal Justice.

Covid-19 mortality rates in state and federal prisons as of Aug. 15,
compared with overall mortality rates, adjusted to match inmates'
sex, age race and ethnicity. Graph is from the NCCCJ report. 

As of mid-August, the report found Kentucky's prisons' covid-19 death rate was five times the state's overall, unadjusted death rate from the disease: 89.5 deaths per 100,000 prisoners, compared to 18.1 deaths per 100,000 residents. 

After adjusting for inmates' demographic characteristics,  the prisons' covid-19 death rate was 13.8 times higher than the overall death rate for the disease in Kentucky.

Arkansas had the highest covid-19 death rates in prisons, both adjusted and unadjusted. New Mexico ranked second in the adjusted rate and Ohio ranked second in the unadjusted rate. 

In coronavirus cases, Kentucky's prisons ranked eighth in the nation, with a case rate 7.9% higher than the state s a whole. The researchers were not able to make demographic adjustments in case figures due to a lack of available data. Kentucky reports demographics of cases, but many states do not.

State Corrections Commissioner Cookie Crews said in an email delivered by the Justice and Public Safety Cabinet, “The Department of Corrections has taken, and will continue to take, aggressive steps to protect the safety and security of all staff and inmates incarcerated in Kentucky state prisons. All efforts made by DOC to date have been implemented in close collaboration with the Department for Public Health in accordance with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance for correctional settings.”

As of Sept. 8, the corrections department reported 888 inmates and 151 staff had tested positive for the coronavirus. Of those, 786 inmates and 144 staff had recovered. The online report says there has been one staff death and 13 inmate deaths from the virus. The report shows 11 prison deaths and 851 prison cases in Kentucky as of Aug. 19.

The study calls state and federal prisons "covid-19 hotspots," with new cases of the virus increasing rapidly in July and August.

"Incarceration facilities represented 19 of the top 20 clusters of confirmed cases in the U.S. as of August 19," says the report. "These trends are especially concerning considering that the U.S. has the largest incarcerated population in the world, with approximately 2 million people behind bars. More than 1.3 million individuals are in state or federal prisons and the remainder are in county jails." 

The report points to the many challenges of containing an outbreak in prisons, including those around social distancing in small shared spaces, issues of over-crowding, high rates of chronic health conditions that make people more vulnerable to the disease, limited medical resources, an aging prison population, and the daily churn of staff members, new arrivals and in some states, visitors. 

The researchers also recognize the health disparities that exist among Blacks, who are twice as likely to die from covid-19 than whites, and are incarcerated five times more often than whites. Prisoners are also much more likely to be younger and male, says the report. 

The research illustrates variations in both states and types of facilities, which the researchers say could inform future research about what policies have been most effective in thwarting the spread of the virus in these facilities. 

Click here for a separate report on covid-19, jails and public safety.

Latest White House report shows big increases in number of 'red zone' counties and Ky. death rate; new-case rate 19th in nation

White House Coronavirus Task Force table; for larger version, click on it. Counties are sorted by cases in last three weeks, from highest to lowest. Places with fewer than 10 cases last week are excluded. 

By Mary Meehan
Kentucky Health News

More than half of Kentucky’s counties are in covid-19 danger zones defined by the White House Coronavirus Task Force, and there were big increases last week in the state’s covid-19 death rate and the number of counties in the task force’s “red zone.”

The task force’s weekly report showed that the high-risk areas span both urban and rural communities.

The state’s death rate rose 29.6% in the Saturday-to-Friday week of Aug. 29 to Sept. 4, which Gov. Andy Beshear called one of the deadliest weeks on record in Kentucky. The report is usually released on Monday but was delayed by the Labor Day weekend.

Of the state’s 120 counties, 64 were in the high-risk zones, up from 59 last week. There were 10 more counties, or 24, in the red zone and five fewer, or 40 counties, in the yellow zone.

Communities in the red zone have positive test rate higher than 10% and more than one new case per thousand residents. Yellow-zone places had new cases between 0.1 and 1 per 1,000 and a positive-test rate of 5% to 10% -- or one of those, with the other in the red zone.

While Kentucky's positive-test rate remained in the yellow zone, the report's maps showed that many counties were in the red zone for positive tests, with many above 10 percent positive, and 14 above 20 percent.

White House Coronavirus Task Force maps; for a larger image, click on it.

Kentucky had 110 new cases per 100,000 population, ranking 19th in the nation; the national average was 88 cases per 100,000 population.

Nearly all of Kentucky’s hospitals – an average of 93% – reported a newly confirmed or suspected case of covid-19 each day.

The virus continues to hit long-term care facilities, with 5% of Kentucky’s nursing facilities having at least one new resident covid-19 death, according to the report.

The task force encourages more testing on college campuses and, if needed, in the surrounding communities. It also suggests that all universities and colleges have a plan for rapid testing and contract tracing of students showing symptoms, and says residential cases or contacts should not be sent home to quarantine.

The state is collecting data on individual cases at both colleges and school districts serving K-12 students at Kentucky’s covid-19 website.

Kentucky's positive coronavirus test rate drops below 4% for first time in eight weeks; Beshear says that puts state in a safer place

Kentucky Health News chart; each day's number is the average for the last seven days.

By Mary Meehan 

Kentucky Health News

 

While announcing only one new death from covid-19 on Tuesday and a positive test rate dipping below 4% for the first time since mid-July, Gov. Andy Beshear also urged caution. 

The seven-day average of Kentuckians testing positive for the coronavirus dropped to 3.91% Tuesday; the last time the rate was below 4% was July 14, at 3.95%. 

“Remember, if we can get, especially below four and stay below four, if we can be going down, then we're in a place where we have a lot more opportunity and it is a lot safer,” Beshear said at his daily briefing, all the while cautioning that this low rate could be the result of limited Labor Day reporting.

State officials say the positive-test rates reported by the federal government are generally 2 to 3 percentage points higher than the rates reported by the state because the feds miss many negative cases due to the ways different labs report, and they include all positive tests for the same person, but the state eliminates those duplicates.

Public health officials consider a rate of 5% a danger level because it increases the risk of community spread of the virus. Anything less than 5% is to be celebrated. Many Kentucky counties are below 5% but many are above 10% and 14 were above 20% last week, according to the latest White House Coronavirus Task Force report.

One of those 20% counties was Lewis, the site of the only death reported Tuesday, a 79-year-old man. He brought the state’s official death toll to 988, inching it closer to the grim milestone of 1,000 lives lost. The toll recorded by local health departments is already over 1,000, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported last week.

“It is going to be a difficult month,” Beshear said. “Last week was the deadliest week in terms of lost lives that we had and we're going to see more of that moving forward.” 

Last week the state reported its highest number of weekly cases yet, 4,742. This was the fourth week in a row the state reported more than 4,000 cases. 

Gaynell Howard died at 89.

The governor highlighted the lost life of Gaynell Howard of Louisville, reminding Kentuckians that even though she was 89, she was the mother of two sons and a grandmother to five grandchildren and a great-grandmother to four. 

Beshear said the last time her family spoke to her was March 9 after Treyton Oak Towers, where she lived, stopped visits because of the virus. Howard died April 13. 

“These are real people that we love and that we care about. Not just numbers, not something to argue about whether it's real or not real,” Beshear said. “And don't tell anybody in her family ‘Oh, she was old.’ She's special. She had more years left in this world and they were taken from that family because of covid-19.” 

Beshear announced 273 new cases of the virus Tuesday, again saying the number may be artificially low because of the holiday weekend and will likely increase as the week progresses.

The state's daily report said 510 people are hospitalized with covid-19 in Kentucky, 130 of them in intensive care and 74 of those on ventilators. Sen. Gerald Neal, D-Louisville, 74, is one of those newly hospitalized. 

The Louisville Courier Journal reports that Neal's prognosis is good and that he went to the hospital Monday as a precaution, according to state Senate Minority Leader Morgan McGarvey, D-Louisville. 

State Rep. Attica Scott, D-Louisville, announced Monday that she had tested positive. Beshear said Scott, 48, has not required hospitalization and has put herself into the required quarantine. 

Tricia Holliday, center, told the Lexington Herald-Leader
that her children, Marvin and Serenity, weren't able to
join online classes until Friday because a wireless
hotspot wasn't installed. (Photo provided)

The ongoing debate about the seriousness of the virus played out at the Capitol Tuesday as a group of Fayette County parents and students protested against virtual learning. 

WKYT reports that a Facebook group called “Let Them Learn in Fayette County” organized the event. The group has more than 1,500 members. Members said they are frustrated with virtual learning and are calling on lawmakers and education leaders to reopen classrooms to in-person learning. The few dozen protesters carried signs saying, “Let Me Learn” and “I need school.” 

Asked about the protest, Beshear said he was concerned but optimistic that schools will open safely with in-person learning by his recommended date of Sept. 28. 

As he has before, Beshear singled out Warren County because of its high daily case count, announcing 42 today. The county was one of the first to start in-person schooling.

Other counties with more than 10 new cases were Fayette, 59; Jefferson, 50; Madison, 13; and Marshall, 11. 

Beshear also mentioned Marshall County, but praised school officials there for reporting cases as all school districts have been asked to do. 

“While I disagree with that school system going back when they did, it does appear that they are publicly reporting cases,” he said. “That's a good thing. That's showing responsibility.” 

As schools face such challenges, Beshear reminded them that no school district is likely to have a straight path to success. He said he expects some to experience what happened in Green County, which switched to virtual learning following a spike in new cases. 

The latest state report says there are 334 active cases of the virus in K-12 students, and 137 in employees. Beshear said these include 10 students and three employees added Tuesday. Among 31 Kentucky colleges or universities with at least one case of the virus, 63 more students tested positive. The daily report shows 1,020 active student cases and 36 active cases in employees. 

Again, Beshear said wearing masks is the key to a safe transition back to school, among other activities.

“This is our greatest tool,” he said while holding up a mask, “our most important tool to getting back to everything that we want to do, about getting back to in-person classes.”

In other covid-19 news Tuesday:

• Beshear said there are 546 active cases in residents of Kentucky long-term care facilities and 340 active cases in long-term-care staff. 
• He said 13 additional child-care centers have reported at least one case, including 10 more staff and five more children. 
• Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced Republicans will unveil a new covid-19 relief bill. The bill apparently will include an extension of the Paycheck Protection Program, Postal Service aid, money for schools and more enhanced unemployment insurance, which are among points of agreement between the two political parties, Politico reports. Democratic leaders rejected the bill even before its details were released. Beshear said he was unaware of the specifics, but said if federal dollars aren’t made available to offset state and local deficits, Kentucky state government could see more budget cuts of as much as 8 percent. “We've already cut through the muscle; they would cut deep into the bone,” he said. Click here for McConnell's press release. 
• Beshear announced details of the Healthy at Home Eviction Relief Fund for renters and landlords to get financial assistance. The fund was created from $15 million in federal relief money as a way to make sure renters have homes and protect landlords from financial hardship. Beshear said the funds are available on a first-come, first-serve basis and require both the renter and landlord to submit an application. The application is at teamkyhherf.ky.gov. Jefferson County residents will need to apply for money from a separate fund; they should connect with the Louisville/Jefferson County Eviction Prevention Covid-19 Relief Fund. The Team Kentucky Fund is also available to help Kentuckians pay rent.

No covid-19 deaths and a relatively low number of coronavirus cases reported in Kentucky, as holiday weekend reporting lags

State Department for Public Health map, labeled by Ky. Health News; for larger version, click on it.

By Al Cross
Kentucky Health News

Kentucky reported no additional deaths from covid-19 Monday, and only 291 cases of the novel coronavirus, but state officials cautioned that the impact of the holiday weekend won't be understood for weeks.

“I’ll take any day we’re not announcing new deaths, but we know this is only due to less reporting because of the long holiday weekend,” Gov. Andy Beshear said in a press release. “We’ve lost nearly 1,000 of our fellow Kentuckians to this deadly virus. When we see rising cases like the last couple weeks, we know more deaths follow cases by a couple weeks. Let’s recommit to seeing fewer cases and deaths here.”

Noting that Labor Day celebrates work, Beshear said, “This year more than ever, I’m thinking about all the nurses, doctors and other hospital support staffers and other front-line workers who have helped us during this pandemic. We also need to remember the thousands of teachers, administrators and others working to educate our children in these trying times. I hope you’ll join me on this Labor Day in thanking all of the essential workers who are sacrificing for the common good. Remember, the best way to show people you care about them is to mask up, keep social distance, keep gatherings to 10 people or fewer and follow the other guidelines to keep us safe.”

Kentucky Health News chart, based on state data

The governor's press release said the percentage of Kentuckians testing positive for the virus, "based on a seven-day rolling average, taking into account total positive tests reported by laboratories divided by total tests reported by labs," was 4.34%.    

Health Commissioner Steven Stack praised Kentuckians who are committed to blunting the virus.

“Citizens of our commonwealth are demonstrating this concern for others by wearing face coverings when going out in public, keeping a social distance of at least six feet and thorough hand-washing,” he said. “What troubles me is what we might see in two or three weeks and beyond if people don’t follow guidance, including limiting crowds to 10 people or under and congregating less frequently.”

Stack noted that the Aug. 30 report identified 14 “red zone” counties, with the highest rates of new cases and positive-test results. “We need to look at the 106 other counties as ‘smoldering’,” he said. “Just because we don’t live, work or visit a red county doesn’t mean we can let our guard down. All it takes is one event that brings a lot of people together to cause an outbreak and become a ‘red’ county. Covid-19 has a spectrum of impacts ranging from the inconvenience of quarantine to more severe consequences such as prolonged illness for many, hospitalization for some and death for the most vulnerable.”

Counties with more than five new cases on the state's daily report were Fayette, 51; Jefferson, 46; Warren, 29; Campbell, Grayson, Pike and Union, 9 each; Kenton, 8; Bullitt, Greenup and Henderson, 7 each; and Bell, Boone and Jessamine, 6 each.

Information on hospitalizations was delayed until Tuesday, as was the weekly report from the White House Coronavirus Task Force.

In other covid-19 news Monday:

• "Infectious-disease experts are warning of a potential cold-weather surge of coronavirus cases — a long-feared 'second wave' of infections and deaths, possibly at a catastrophic scale," report Joel Achenbach and Rachel Weiner of The Washington Post. "It could begin well before Election Day, Nov. 3, although researchers assume the crest would come weeks later, closer to when fall gives way to winter."
• State Rep. Attica Scott, D-Louisville, announced that she had tested positive for the coronavirus. She has been a fixture at downtown demonstrations about the police killing of Breonna Taylor, Chris Williams of WHAS-TV reported. He noted that Scott didn't say anything about symptoms and that she had not responded to a request for an interview.

Lexington's WKYT replayed its five-part "Misinformation Pandemic" series that aired last week on its alternate CW channel. Garrett Wymer and Kristen Kennedy busted several covid-19 myths, including: 

• More positive cases are being reported because more people are getting tested? That's only part of the cause, University of Kentucky epidemiologist Kathleen Winter said.
• Covid-19 is not “like the flu,” which has vaccines and anti-viral therapies, Winter said: “We are still learning all the ways that this virus can attack the body. It doesn’t just present as a respiratory infection.”
• Children can't get it? A nine-year-old who got is was interviewed; his mother said she worries about it flaring up or scarring his lungs. Kennedy noted that 694 cases of multi-system inflammatory syndrome, which flares up as a delayed reaction of a child's immune system to the virus, have been reported in U.S. children.
• Kennedy said the best source of coronavirus information is the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website.

Health commissioner says Kentuckians' wearing of masks 'went up dramatically' after governor issued mandate two months ago

Dr. Steven Stack and Gov. Andy Beshear at a press conference a few months ago

Mask wearing became much more common in Kentucky after Gov. Andy Beshear made it mandatory on June 10, Health Commissioner Steven Stack said in an interview with the American Medical Association, of which he was president in 2015-16.

"The mandate did matter because we told people what we needed them to do; we told them for weeks and they didn't do it. You know, we put in place a mandate—compliance went up dramatically," Stack told writer Sara Berg at the end of a long reply to her question, "How do you get more people to mask up?"

He said "consistency of messaging" and model behavior are important. "We've been very clear that it's a public health measure, that it's what we need to do in order to get Kentucky open again, to keep people safe, and get people back to school, to work, to play," he said, adding later, "They appear to be a really simple, but very powerful, tool."

Stack and Beshear have said that the mask mandate stopped the strong surge in cases that the state saw in July, but they have continued to press for compliance as the daily number of new cases has grown in recently. 

Berg noted that such topics are being politicized, and asked, "How do you make it apolitical?"

"Well, by saying it—pretty much," Stack replied. "We've said over and over and over: 'This is not about politics. It's purely about public health and if we don't do it, we're going to pay a consequence and more people will get sick. When they get sick, they'll go to the hospital, some people will die.' We made the point that it really isn't about any ideology. And what you have to do then is try to enlist people, a diverse array of people to show that it's not politics. So that includes diversity in gender, ethnicity and social status. You need a variety of people modeling the behavior."

He added, "This is a time when it's an all-hands-on-deck moment for leaders—whether they're elected political leaders, appointed people like me, physicians, nurses, teachers, principals and superintendents of schools, CEOs of businesses. All of us who have the capacity to understand just how serious this is have a responsibility to model these behaviors and consistently message why it is so important in order to depoliticize it and remove it from ideology and identity politics."

Virus cases for week set a record; new surge feared from holiday

Kentucky Health News chart; for a larger version, click on it

By Al Cross
Kentucky Health News 

As Kentucky marked six months of the covid-19 pandemic, it set a new record for weekly cases of the novel coronavirus.

“The first positive case of covid-19 in the commonwealth was announced six months ago today, in Harrison County,” Gov. Andy Beshear said in a press release. “This week we recorded 4,742 new coronavirus cases. Last week we had 4,503. That means we’ve set a record for the number of weekly new cases for the second consecutive week.”

The weeks in those reports are Monday through Sunday. Most of the seven-day totals last week were higher than the weekly total; the 313 new cases reported Sunday were much less than in recent days, but typical for a Sunday because many testing labs are closed on weekends.

The state's seven-day rolling average of daily new cases was 689, more than two and a half times what it was four months ago. It exceeded 700 for the first time on three days last week.

“We’re facing the challenge of our lifetimes and we must do better,” Beshear said. “These past six months have been devastating for so many Kentucky families. These months also will be remembered as a time when Kentuckians lived up to our reputation as compassionate, resolute and resilient people who take care of one another.”

The thinking was less wishful from Health Commissioner Steven Stack. “Pleasant weather across Kentucky and a holiday weekend may result in more cases reported,” he said the release. “We’ll know in two to three weeks.” The state had a major surge in cases after the last holiday weekend, July 4.

“It’s important to be resolute and learn from experience,” Stack said. “Please don’t jam sidewalks, restaurants and bars with masks hanging below your chins. Don’t gather in groups larger than 10 and, if you see a larger crowd, stay away.”

Stack added, “The choices Kentuckians make this weekend and every day will determine whether the phased reopening of our economy succeeds or fails. The choices Kentuckians make will also determine how many Kentuckians get hurt or die in the months ahead. With covid-19 at its current elevated rates, the risk that any person we come into contact with is a carrier of the coronavirus is much higher.”

He repeated his usual advice to wear a face covering in public; keep six feet away from those you don’t live with; and wash your hands often.

Beshear announced three more deaths on Sunday, bringing Kentucky's covid-19 death toll to 996. The state's total lags behind numbers reported by local health departments; their death total was at least 1,051 on Thursday, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported.

“We can’t become numb to this,” Beshear said. “Today’s reported death toll is much lower than several days this week, but these still are three individuals whose families and friends are devastated and grieving. Let’s care for them and respect their grief by redoubling our efforts to keep each other safe.”

The fatalities were a 75-year-old woman from Harlan County, an 81-year-old woman from Lewis County, and an 86-year-old man from Fayette County.

Counties with more than five new cases on the state's daily report were Jefferson, 96; Fayette, 25; Warren, 16; Bullitt, 12; Greenup, 10; Henderson, 9; Pulaski, 8; Boyd and McCracken, 7 each; and Green, Jessamine, Madison, Muhlenberg and Oldham, 6 each.

Beshear said 43 of the new cases were in Kentuckians 18 and younger.

Due to limited reporting on Sundays and holidays, information on the positive-test rate and hospitalizations will be delayed until Tuesday.

In other covid-19 news Sunday:

• "President Trump is so fixated on finding a vaccine for the novel coronavirus that in meetings about the U.S. pandemic response, little else captures his attention, according to administration officials" interviewed by The Washington Post. "Trump has pressed health officials to speed up the vaccine timeline and urged them to deliver one by the end of the year. He has peppered them with questions about the development status and mass-distribution plans," the Post reports. "And, in recent days, he has told some advisers and aides that a vaccine may arrive by Nov. 1, which just happens to be two days before the presidential election. Trump’s desire to deliver a vaccine — or at least convince the public that one is very near — by the time voters decide whether to elect him to a second term is in part a campaign gambit to improve his standing with an electorate that overwhelmingly disapproves of his management of the pandemic."
• Six Post contributors offer "10 Things to Help You Get Through the Pandemic Into the Fall," including: immunity-supporting soups, "a better pumpkin spice latte," playing pickleball, make arrangements of pine cones and other evergreens, prioritize meaningful relationships, and volunteer to serve others.
• "Doctors and Nurses Take to TikTok to Fight Covid Myths," Wired magazine headlines a story by Helen Santoro, who quotes one: “We can treat only one patient at a time, but if we can get a message out there that can hit thousands or hundreds of thousands, then we can change their thoughts.”
  

Health chief says his background helps him deal with pandemic, but nothing could prepare him fully for what's like 'Groundhog Day'

Health Commissioner Steven Stack, M.D.

Dr. Steven Stack, commissioner of the state Department for Public Health, has become a familiar face to many Kentuckians during the covid-19 pandemic, but he has offered the public little information about himself and how he's dealt with it—until now.

Stack told writer Sara Berg of the American Medical Association, of which he was president a few years ago, that the experience had helped him deal with the pandemic, as has his background as an emergency physician, student of history and recent earner of a business degree—but nothing could fully prepare him for the task.

“It’s been like a baptism by fire. It’s been drinking through a fire hose. It’s been all those things,” he said. “I had about three weeks to be a normal health commissioner, where I was learning—and then the whole world changed. My life has been consumed with trying to address and solve unsolvable problems, participating in the shutdown of most of society and then the reopening of some of society in trying to navigate all sorts of unknowns and uncertainties.”

Asked if thinking on his feet as an emergency-room doctor gave him useful experience, he said. "My life clinically has been, frequently, making high-stakes decisions with limited, imperfect information and having to still be accountable for a high-quality decision and accept the consequences of those decisions." 

Stack said his AMA presidency gave me familiarity with government interactions with it, and "an appreciation for the complexity of policy and health care policy, specifically, and the MBA degree has helped him "negotiate contracts and create very complicated solutions to difficult problems."

He said his love of history has helped "because with so much disruption in society, having perspective really is helpful. There's a lot in my background that has helped me. Now, all of that being said ... there's just no way to be entirely prepared for the kind of magnitude of things we're having to do right now."

Berg asked Stack if he has felt overwhelmed, and if so how he has dealt with it.

"It's been going on long enough now that there have been cycles . . . There are the weeks where I managed to get enough rest and be refreshed, and I feel like a burst of creative energy, or I can see a path to maybe try to address or improve some of the challenges. There are weeks where I'm just totally exhausted. It does feel like the movie Groundhog Day, where every day is the same thing . . . Then you get to the weekend and the weekend is the time to do reading . . . try to catch up on news and lift your head up from underwater a little bit, just to see what else is going on and spend some time with family. Some weeks it feels like it's all you can do just to keep up. Other weeks you feel like you're constantly 10 feet underwater and you never even see the surface, let alone reach to get above it."