Judge blocks state's new anti-abortion law, pending study of it

Kentucky Health News

A federal judge has blocked Kentucky's broad, new anti-abortion law, saying it has so many restrictions that she needs time to evaluate the ability of the state's two abortion clinics to follow them.

District Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings issued a temporary restraining order, saying “The Court restrains enforcement of the entirety of HB 3 at this time, as it lacks information to specifically determine which individual provisions and subsections are capable of compliance.”

The law was passed as House Bill 3 of the recently completed session of the Republican-controlled General Assembly, over the veto of Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, who said it was unconstitutional and lacked an exception for cases of rape or incest. The bill had an emergency clause that made it take effect immediately, which the clinics said made compliance even more difficult.

U.S. District Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings

Jennings ruled in a lawsuit filed by a unit of Planned Parenthood, which has an abortion clinic in Louisville and called the law "tantamount to a ban on abortion." A similar suit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky on behalf of EMW Women's Surgical Center of Louisville, the state's only other abortion clinic.

Both clinics stopped providing abortions when the law took effect April 13, saying it was impossible for them to comply with it immediately. "The law has put Kentucky in the national spotlight for becoming the first state to eliminate access to all abortion services," notes Deborah Yetter of the Courier Journal, adding that they are resuming services.

Jennings ruled that the law makes any abortion unlawful until the state Cabinet for Health and Family Services creates a system and forms for compliance. “Because [Planned Parenthood] cannot comply with HB 3 and thus cannot legally perform abortion services, its patients face a substantial obstacle to exercising their rights to a pre-viability abortion,” and that us an “undue burden,” making it constitutionally questionable, she wrote.

Jennings made her restraining order effective for two weeks, during which she will hold a hearing on the plaintiffs' motions for a preliminary injunction to keep the law from taking effect.

The law strengthens parental-consent rules, increases reporting rules, requires aborted fetuses to be cremated or buried through pre-arrangement with funeral homes, which the clinics said will be reluctant to make for fear of retribution.

It also prohibits abortion after the 15th week of pregnancy, mimicking a Mississippi law that is awaiting a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court, and bans mailing medications that have become the most common way to end a pregnancy in Kentucky, a means recently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. "It requires the state Cabinet for Health and Family Services to create a new, extensive system to certify, register and monitor anyone who produces, ships or dispenses the medication," Yetter notes. Beshear noted that the legislature provided no money for the system.

Planned Parenthood Great Northwest CEO Rebecca Gibron said in a press release that her group was “grateful” for Jennings' order: “This is a win, but it is only the first step. We’re prepared to fight for our patients’ right to basic health in court and continue doing everything in our power to ensure abortion access is permanently secured in Kentucky.”

Attorney General Daniel Cameron, a Republican who may run for governor against Beshear in 2023, said he was disappointed in the ruling. He had argued against a restraining order, notes Alex Acquisto of the Lexington Herald-Leader.

Free academy at Pikeville June 12-25 will introduce rising high-school seniors and juniors in Appalachian Kentucky to nursing

The regional development group Shaping our Appalachian Region and the state Department for Public Health’s Office of Health Equity are hosting the first Appalachian Nursing Academy June 12-25 at the University of Pikeville for rising juniors and seniors at high schools in Kentucky's 54 Appalachian counties. The free two-week academy offers:
· Interactive programming with workshops, presentation, shadowing, mentorship, tours, etc.
· Housing at the university
· Three meals a day
· $1,500 scholarship to further your education
· Trips to see and experience regional attractions and activities

You do not have to have any prior experience related to nursing to apply. Your interest is all that matters. If you are interested, click here to apply or here to download a flyer.

Kentucky highway fatalities rose again in 2021, by 3%; once more, most of those killed were not wearing their seat belt

Ky. Health News graph from state data shows fatalities not using a seat belt, and in which alcohol, speeding or aggressive driving, and distracted driving were involved, and the total number of fatalities.

Deaths from highway accidents in Kentucky rose 3.3 percent last year, according to the State Police and the Transportation Cabinet. But so far this year, fatality numbers are running below last year. 

Again last year, most of those killed were not wearing a seat belt.

"Of the 806 highway fatalities last year in Kentucky, 54.7 percent were not wearing a seat belt and 15 percent involved alcohol," the agencies said in a press release. "Approximately 26 percent involved speeding or aggressive drivers and 15 percent involved driver distraction."

Those percentages were about the same as in 2020, and those two years showed declines in fatal speeding or aggressive driving and driver distraction from 2019. About 32 percent of deaths in 2019 involved speeding or aggressive driving, and 21 percent involved driver distraction.

Unlike the last two years, 2021 saw deaths of motorcyclists outnumber those of pedestrians and  bicyclists. In 2021, pedestrians and bicyclists accounted for 85 deaths and motorcyclists accounted for 88 deaths. In 2020, pedestrians and bicyclists accounted for 97 deaths and motorcyclists accounted for 74 deaths. In 2019, pedestrians and bicyclists accounted for 79 deaths and motorcyclists accounted for 77 deaths.

“While we pledge to increase our awareness efforts, we need the public’s help,” Transportation Secretary Jim Gray said in the press release. “We’re asking motorists to commit to save driving behaviors when behind the wheel, and everyone – both drivers and passengers – pledge to always buckle up.”

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, wearing a seat belt gives motorists the best chance of preventing injury or death if involved in a crash. Properly fastened seat belts contact the strongest parts of the body, such as the chest, hips and shoulders. A seat belt spreads the force of a crash over a wide area of the body, putting less stress on any one part, and allows the body to slow down with the crash, extending the time when the crash forces are felt by the occupant.

Kentucky gets $4.19 million to expand AmeriCorps work in public health, with the hope it will funnel more people into such work

Kentucky has received nearly $4.2 million to expand the public-health role of the AmeriCorps program in the state. The grant comes from the American Rescue Plan Act, last year's pandemic relief bill.

"This funding will support the recruitment, training and development of a new generation of public health leaders,” Gov. Andy Beshear said in a news release. “The funding will support the addition of community health workers with coordination from Serve Kentucky, the agency committed to engaging Kentuckians in volunteerism and service to positively impact our communities.”

This new public health initiative is the result of a partnership between AmeriCorps and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nationwide, the initiative will fund up to 5,000 public-health positions over the next five years. 

Public Health AmeriCorps will help meet public-health needs of local communities by providing surge capacity and support while also creating pathways to public health-related careers, says the release. 

Health Commissioner Steven Stack pointed to the many public-health challenges caused by the pandemic, noting that it has been "neither easy nor without loss" to get to our current low rates of transmission. 

"This grant allows us to plan for future public health emergency responses," he said. "Creating a standing corps of public health personnel to manage surge capacity and respond to crises will enable Team Kentucky to stand ready to support Kentuckians when emergencies arise." 

Funding from the grant will  to the Kentucky Health Departments Association and Family Scholar House. 

The KHDA will get $1,367,986 to add 75 AmeriCorps members as community health workers in local health departments. They will work in programs such as the Health Access Nurturing Development Services, (HANDS), the Women, Infant and Children (WIC) program, and harm-reduction programs.

AmeriCorps members will not replace any existing health-department staffers, Susan Dunlap, spokeswoman for the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, told Kentucky Health News in an e-mail. 

"AmeriCorps members will be used to bolster the local public health workforce in Kentucky to expand the number of services delivered at local health departments currently available," Dunlap said. "Additionally, AmeriCorps members will receive training to become certified as community health workers, which are in short supply at local health departments throughout Kentucky."

Family Scholar House, which oversees the annual grant competition that awards funding to AmeriCorps State and other community service programs, says it works to provide a comprehensive, holistic continuum of care for low-income families and youth to help them reach their educational, career and family goals. It will get $2,825,124 to offer additional services.

Dunlap said, "FSH applied for the grant due to their familiarity with AmeriCorps, and because the grant will enable participants to receive training and support to enter the public-health field (in addition to the living allowance and education award) – which aligns with FSH’s priorities of health, educational support, and career pathways."

FSH's grant will allow it to leverage 200 AmeriCorps members who will provide health-care support to seniors and disabled individuals in health care facilities across Kentucky, says the news release. 

"FSH AmeriCorps member activities will include support with basic clinical assistance, activities for socialization, infection control, and dietary and patient services," said Dunlap. "FSH AmeriCorps members will develop their healthcare knowledge and complete credentialing coursework—enabling them to work in memory care, skilled nursing, assisted living, and other healthcare related environments." 

Eric Friedlander, secretary of the cabinet, which administers and oversees Serve Kentucky, said this initiative will serve as a steppingstone to get more people into the public-health field.

“After their year of service, we expect more than 200 AmeriCorps members will pursue future engagement in the public-health sector,” Friedlander said in the release. "AmeriCorps and the CDC believe that Public Health AmeriCorps provides a unique way to expose those interested in learning more about public health and its various careers.”

Joe Bringardner, executive director of Serve Kentucky, said, "Adults of all ages and education backgrounds are eligible to serve in Public Health AmeriCorps."

Coronavirus cases and positive-test rate in Kentucky are rising, but deaths and hospital numbers are declining more

Kentucky Health News chart from state data

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

Daily cases and the share of Kentuckians testing positive for the coronavirus are rising again, apparently reflecting a national trend.

The state's report for the last Monday-Sunday period showed 3,257 new cases of the virus, an average of 465 per day, up 4.5% from 445 a day the week before.  

The New York Times reports that cases are rising again in the U.S., going up 39% in the last two weeks. It notes that case numbers are likely higher than reported, because of the prevalence of home Covid-19 tests.

Kentucky Health News graph, from state data

The percentage of Kentuckians testing positive for the virus in the past seven days is 3.12%, up from 2.27%. 

The Times ranks Kentucky's infection rate 20th among the states and Washington, D.C. Of the week's new cases in Kentucky, 25% were in people 18 and younger. 

Kentucky's seven-day infection rate also showed an uptick, to to 5.63 cases per 100,000 residents from 4.09 the week before. Counties with rates more than double the latest statewide rate are Franklin, 23.5; Campbell, 11.9; and Jefferson, 11.6. Twenty of the 120 counties reported no cases last week.

While leading indicators showed more risk of infection, deaths related to Covid-19 dropped 43 percent and hospital numbers continued to decline. 

The state attributed 97 more deaths to Covid-19, an average of just under 13.9 per day. That's down from 24.6 per day the week before and 19.3 per day the week before that. All told, the state has attributed 15,297 deaths to the pandemic. 

Kentucky hospitals reported 176 patients with Covid-19, with 20 of them in intensive care and only nine on mechanical ventilation. All of these numbers are lower than last week's Monday report; hospitalizations were down 11%; intensive-care cases were down 31%.

Very few intensive-care beds in Kentucky are being used for Covid-19 patients, but six of the state's 10 hospital regions are using at least 80% of their intensive care beds. Statewide, 78.7% of the beds are in use. 

Kentuckians who are not vaccinated or boosted are still encouraged to do so. The Washington Post reports that an average of 4,753 Covid-19 vaccine doses per day were given in Kentucky last week, a 6% increase over the week before.

The numbers include second doses and booster shots. They have been increasing since late March, when a second booster shot was authorized for people 65 and older and other more vulnerable populations. But the rate of increase in Kentucky since then has not been as fast as nationwide. 

So far, 65% of the state's total population has received at least one dose of a vaccine; 57% of the total population is fully vaccinated; and 44% of those eligible have been boosted. The Post adds that nearly 61% of the state's eligible population, those 5 and older, have been fully vaccinated. 

"Let's keep going," Gov. Andy Beshear said at last week's press conference. "It's not enough." 

Travel masks out: On Monday, a federal judge in Florida struck down the federal mask mandate on airplanes and other modes of public transportation, saying it exceeds the statutory authority of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and violates administrative law. 

Last week, the CDC extended the public transportation mask mandate through May 3. The Biden administration has not decided on an appeal.

"White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said Monday afternoon that it was a 'disappointing' decision, and that the Department of Homeland Security and the CDC were reviewing the ruling" and that "the Justice Department will make any determinations about a legal response," CNN reports.

Cancer plagues Appalachia, so a UK program brings high-school and college students from the region into the study of it

The nation's highest cancer rates are in Appalachia, especially in Appalachian Kentucky. But the state is also home to an effort to get young people from the region involved in research to prevent and cure cancer.

It's at the University of Kentucky’s Markey Cancer Center, where college and high-school students from Appalachian Kentucky can explore research, clinical care and education "to help them learn more about pursuing careers in fighting cancer," Tom Martin of Richmond's WEKU-FM reports for The Daily Yonder.

The program is called ACTION, for Appalachian Career Training in Oncology, the study and treatment of cancer. It's directed by Nathan Vanderford, an associate professor of toxicology and cancer biology. He is editor of a book of student essays, Cancer Crisis in Appalachia: Kentucky Students Take ACTION , published by the University Press of Kentucky in 2020. A second edition, being edited by Vanderford and Chris Pritchard, is forthcoming.

Professor Nathan Vanderford with the students' book
and photographs (UK photo by Pete Comparoni)

Vanderford told Martin, "We truly do have a cancer crisis in Appalachian Kentucky. The state continues to rate number one in overall cancer incidence and mortality rates. And so it’s critically important that we bring awareness to this fact across the state, and particularly in Eastern Kentucky," which lacks oncology professionals and is distant from health-care centers.

"We are on a mission, and we think it’s really important to train the next generation of oncology professionals who are going to tackle the cancer problem in Appalachian Kentucky, and to have those be individuals who were born and raised and have a personal understanding of the issues that the area faces," Vanderford said. "And who best to do that than the youth of the region?"

Vanderford is from Appalachia, and lost his father to lung cancer in 2010. He told Martin that's when he "became really passionate about cancer and cancer disparities. . . . Just shortly thereafter, my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer, and luckily she was diagnosed early and went through some successful treatment and she’s OK today. So from a personal perspective . . . I’m deeply passionate about this work because of that. But in general, I just absolutely love working with students. It’s just so exciting to work with students, particularly students from Eastern Kentucky. We have amazing students in this state and they just need opportunities. In many of these rural areas, there’s fewer opportunities, outstanding students, and they can just excel when given opportunities like this to take the ball and run with it, so to speak."

Appalachian Kentucky students who are interested in applying to participate in ACTION may find information on the Markey Cancer Center website. The deadline for high-school students apply is May 13. The deadline for college-student applications has passed for this year. For more on the students' work, including photography that they used to illustrate their writings, click here.

Kentucky's two clinics suspend abortions as lawsuits challenge new law that is called 'one of the most restrictive in the nation'

Rep. Randy Bridges, R-Paducah, gives a thumbs down to abortion advocates who chanted "Bans off our bodies" at the state Capitol April 13. (Photo by Ryan C. Hermens, Lexington Herald-Leader) 

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

Kentucky's Republican-majority legislature overrode Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear's veto of legislation with strict requirements that advocates say have forced the state's only two abortion clinics to stop providing abortions -- and lawsuits by the clinics to nullify the new law.

The law, passed as House Bill 3, bans mailing of medications that have become the means for most abortions in Kentucky, strengthens parental-consent rules, increases reporting requirements, requires aborted fetuses to be cremated or buried, and bans abortion after the 15th week of pregnancy, mimicking a Mississippi law that is awaiting a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court.

That decision, expected in June, could overturn or roll back Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 ruling that has guaranteed the constitutional right to an abortion until a fetus can live outside the womb, roughly 23 to 24 weeks. The high court court not only lower that to 15 weeks but take Roe off the books.

Since Republicans took over the House in 2017, they have steadily passed legislation that has been setting up Kentucky to ban abortions altogether. In 2019, the legislature passed a "trigger law" that would ban abortion immediately if Roe is overturned. In 2021, it voted to add to the state constitution a statement that it does not secure or protect a right to abortion or funding of abortion, if voters approve it as a constitutional amendment this November. 

Rep. Nancy Tate, R-Brandenburg, the sponsor of HB 3, has said the purpose of her bill, dubbed the "Humanity in Healthcare Act 2022" is to better protect the health of women and minors seeking abortion, but opponents disagree. 

"Make no mistake, the Kentucky legislature's sole goal with this law is to shut down health centers and completely eliminate abortion access in this state," leaders of Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky said in a statement.

Beshear said he vetoed the bill because there were no exemptions for rape or incest and because it is likely unconstitutional, among other reasons. 

“Rape and incest are violent crimes,” Beshear said in his veto message. “Victims of these crimes should have options, not be further scarred through a process that exposes them to more harm from their rapists or that treats them like offenders themselves.”

The governor said a 12-year-old girl "raped and impregnated by her father" couldn't get an abortion without notifying him and her mother at least 48 hours before having the procedure or going through a court hearing if they did not allow it.

Kentucky's only two abortion providers said they had to stop conducting the procedure because other restrictions and reporting requirements in the 72-page bill went into effect as soon as it was finally passed, under an emergency clause. The legislature sent Beshear the bill March 30 after overwhelming votes for it.

EMW Women's Surgical Services and Planned Parenthood, both abortion providers in Louisville, have filed separate federal lawsuits challenging the new law and asking a judge to suspend it. 

The ACLU said in a news release, "The lawsuits argue that the law would create unnecessary abortion requirements while simultaneously making those requirements impossible to comply with given the immediate effective date of the law, forcing providers in the state to stop offering abortion services. Because the law is impossible to comply with, it amounts to a de facto abortion ban, thus violating patients’ federal right to abortion under Roe v. Wade." 

Kentucky's Republican attorney general, Daniel Cameron, said he is ready to defend the new law. 

“The General Assembly passed HB 3 to protect life and promote the health and safety of women, and we are prepared to earnestly defend this new law against the legal challenge from Planned Parenthood and the ACLU," he said in a statement. 

Alex Acquisto of the Lexington Herald-Leader breaks down four key points in the new abortion law, which Caroline Kitchener of The Washington Post says is "one of the most restrictive in the nation." 

Kitchener adds in a separate online newsletter that more than 500 anti-abortion measures are moving through state legislatures this year and that as more states enact strict abortion restrictions, patients who can afford to cross state lines will be forced to travel further. The Post tracks new action on abortion legislation in real time  across the states on its abortion legislation tracker.

Alecia Fields, an abortion provider at Planned Parenthood in Louisville, told Kitchener that among the most difficult restrictions to comply with is the new rule on fetal remains, which will likely require the hiring of more people to facilitate "an elaborate and medically unnecessary burial process for each abortion performed" as well as contracting with funeral homes, which may not be willing to open themselves to the backlash from the community. 

Both Kentucky abortion providers are still taking calls from patients, and Planned Parenthood says it is directing Kentucky women seeking abortion to other states, Deborah Yetter reports for the Louisville Courier Journal in an article with a headline asking, "Did Kentucky ban abortion?"

Planned Parenthood spokeswoman Nicole Erwin said Thursday, "Any patients seeking abortion care in Kentucky are still advised to reach out to us for their first appointment so that we can coordinate care in Indiana or another state that can provide the care they need. Planned Parenthood's doors are and will remain open in Kentucky and will continue providing all other reproductive care."

As conservative states continue to pass anti-abortion laws, "Eliminating rape and incest exceptions has moved from the fringe to the center of the antiabortion movement," Jennifer Haberkorn reports for the Los Angeles Times. 

"Over the last four years, 10 states have enacted abortion bans in early pregnancy without rape or incest exceptions: Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Ohio, Tennessee and Texas. All were blocked by courts, except Texas’ law, which is in effect," Haberkorn reports.

Haberkorn added in her April 8 article that U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who said he supported exemptions for rape and incest in 2019 when Alabama passed an abortion law without those exceptions, declined to comment on the current legislation. 

Mian Ridge of The Economist writes that if the Supreme Court overturns Roe, "Decisions on abortion would return to the states and at least half would probably ban it. That would exert a particularly heavy toll on poor women. Many of the states that are keenest on banning abortion are among those that offer the least help to low-income mothers and their children." 

"Whatever the laws may say, history has shown that women will continue to have abortions," Jessica Bruder writes for The Atlantic, in a deep dive into what the future of abortion in America may look like. It explores how a covert network of activists are preparing for the end of Roe.

Health bills were among those that passed (some with overrides of vetoes) and failed in the last two days of the legislative session

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

The Republican legislature overrode more than two dozen of Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear's vetoes Wednesday and Thursday, including a wide-ranging abortion bill that was immediately challenged in court and another that sets new rules for public-assistance programs, including Medicaid. 

Tulips in front of the state Capitol

The General Assembly ended its session after passing a number of health-related bills on a wide range of topics, including youth mental health, increased access to mental health and addiction recovery care, a behavioral-health pilot program for low-level offenders, postpartum care for low-income Kentuckians, research into medical marijuana, and the recruitment and retention of health-care providers. 

The anti-abortion measure, House Bill 3, bans mailing of medications that have become the means for most abortions in Kentucky, strengthens parental-consent rules and bans abortion after the 15th week of pregnancy, mimicking a Mississippi law that is awaiting a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court. 

Beshear said he vetoed the bill because there were no exemptions for rape or incest, also noting that it is likely unconstitutional, among other reasons. 

Kentucky's only abortion providers said they had to stop conducting the procedure because other restrictions and reporting requirements in the 72-page bill went into effect as soon as it was finally passed because of an emergency clause.

EMW Women's Surgical Services and Planned Parenthood, both in Louisville, have each filed federal lawsuits challenging the new law and are asking a judge to suspend it. 

The American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky said in a news release, "The lawsuits argue that the law would create unnecessary abortion requirements while simultaneously making those requirements impossible to comply with given the immediate effective date of the law, forcing providers in the state to stop offering abortion services. Because the law is impossible to comply with, it amounts to a de facto abortion ban, thus violating patients’ federal right to abortion under Roe v. Wade," the 1973 Supreme Court decision creating a constitutional right to abortion before a fetus can live outside the womb. 

Lawmakers also overruled Beshear's veto of HB 7, a public-assistance reform bill aimed at reducing fraud and getting able-bodied adults without dependents back into the workplace. Beshear vetoed the bill because, among other things, he said it will result in making it harder for people who need the benefits to get them and will result in people losing benefits. 

Health bills that passed in the last days of session

HB 44, sponsored by Bobby McCool, R-Van Lear (Johnson County), allows local school boards to include mental health as a reason for an excused absence. Rep. Lisa Willner, D-Louisville, praised the passage of this bill, noting that it came from students at several Kentucky schools. This bill also removed part of a new law that would have created criminal penalties for teachers who didn't teach racial history the way called for by the new law, Senate Bill 1, also passed over a veto. 

Senate Bill 102, sponsored by Sen. Max Wise, R-Campbellsville, requires local school superintendents to provide a yearly census of all school-based mental-health providers and their duties to the state Department of Education, not just a list of school counselors. 

SB 90, sponsored by Sen. Whitney Westerfield, R-Crofton, creates a pilot program to divert some qualifying low-level offenders away from jail and into treatment for substance-use disorder or mental-health issues. 

Negotiated in a late House-Senate conference committee, the bill gives the project $11 million a year from the settlement that Kentucky and other states received from opioid manufacturers and distributors.

HB 573, sponsored by Rep. Kim Moser, R-Taylor Mill, establishes the Healthcare Worker Loan Relief Program for qualifying health-care workers with jobs that require four-year degrees. This program is meant to help recruit and retain healthcare workers in rural and underserved areas of Kentucky.

The program would be aligned with the Kentucky State Loan Repayment Program and administered by the University of Kentucky's Center for Excellence in Rural Health. The budget has $2 million in each fiscal year from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, the last pandemic-relief bill.   

SB 178, sponsored by Sen. Julie Raque Adams, R-Louisville, ended up being a catch-all bill for several health-related issues. It requires Medicaid to provide coverage to new mothers up to 12 months after giving birth; sets new rules for certification of alcohol and drug counselors; allows licensed narcotic treatment programs to use buprenorphine products to treat patients; and requires third-party oversight over the state's single Medicaid pharmacy benefit manager; and bars termination of parental rights of a mother whose child suffers from neonatal abstinence syndrome if the mother agrees, prior to discharge from the hospital, to participate in a court-ordered treatment program that includes peer supports. 

HB 604, sponsored by Moser, also became a catch-all bill that at its core establishes the Kentucky Center for Cannabis Research at the University of Kentucky. The budget allocates $2 million in the fiscal year that begins July 1 to start the center. Other health provisions in this bill create the mobile crisis services fund and to the Commonwealth West Healthcare Workforce Innovation Center. 

Health bills that got stuck in the Senate

HB 136, sponsored by Rep. Jason Nemes, R-Louisville, which would have legalized medical cannabis in Kentucky did not gain any traction in the Senate after passing out of the House. Senate President Robert Stivers has long said that he believes more research is needed before such a bill should pass. 

HB 354, sponsored by Rep. Russell Webber, R-Shepherdsville, would have created a path for Kentucky's advanced practice registered nurses to prescribe controlled substances independently. "I'm sure that bill will come back some time in the future," said Senate Majority Floor Leader Damon Thayer in the closing hours of the session.

Floyd, Magoffin and Johnson only counties in Kentucky where CDC advises higher-risk residents to wear masks in public

CDC map shows, in yellow, counties where higher-risk residents are advised to wear masks in public.

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

The latest Centers for Disease Control and Prevention map of counties that pose the greatest risk of Covid-19 shows three adjoining Eastern Kentucky counties with a medium level of coronavirus transmission: Floyd, Magoffin and Johnson. The rest of the state has a low level of the virus.

The new CDC map hadn't been released at the time of Gov. Andy Beshear's Thursday news conference, but he said he was pleased that last week's map was largely green, indicating a low level of transmission. One county, Anderson, was in yellow; officials there said that was due to slow reporting.

Beshear also noted that Kentucky's weekly coronavirus cases and hospital numbers had dropped again, even though the share of Kentuckians testing positive for the virus ticked up to 2.27% from 1.97%.

"Covid continues in a general decline across Kentucky," he said, adding later, "This ought to make us all pretty happy. Enjoy being together, do make good decisions, and make decisions that you are comfortable with about whether to wear a mask or not. But it looks like it's going to be a pretty good spring and I hope everybody enjoys it and doesn't take it for granted."

The CDC says people in Floyd, Magoffin and Johnson counties who are immunocompromised or at high risk for severe illness from the virus should talk to a health-care provider about whether they need to wear a mask or take other precautions. 

The three counties are among 175 counties and county equivalents in the nation at the medium-transmission level, up from 123 in last week's report. 

The CDC determines risk based on cases and health care capacity. Its color-coded map uses green for counties with low risk of transmission, yellow for counties with medium risk and red for counties with high risk. The ratings are based on new coronavirus cases, Covid-19 hospitalizations and the percentage of staffed inpatient beds occupied by Covid-19 patients.

McConnell: 'Completely unacceptable' for Biden to extend pandemic emergency but lift bar on asylum seekers at borders

McConnell and Biden in January 2017

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Thursday that President Biden was being inconsistent and political by extending the pandemic public-health emergency for another 90 days, and the travel mask mandate for at least 15 days, while announcing that he will lift the pandemic restriction that allows the U.S. to turn away seekers of asylum at national borders.

“Democrats are ending the Covid emergency for illegal immigrants but extending it for American citizens," McConnell said in a press release. “Democrats are not basing their decisions on any smart strategy, coherent plan, or objective science. They pretend the pandemic justifies an endless freeze on student-loan payments despite the tightest job market in modern history, but not controlling who crosses our borders. They pretend that unelected public-health bureaucrats get to dictate economic policy and immigration policy, but they overruled the experts on the actually medical subject of booster-shot policies, causing multiple FDA scientists to resign in protest. When President Biden’s political advisers want to dictate policy, they do so freely, but when they want to duck accountability, they pretend they are powerless.

“This White House is using the pandemic as a pretext to shamelessly pick and choose liberal policies to advance. The effects will be functionally open borders while a state of emergency continues for Americans. Completely unacceptable.”

Some pain patients and their doctors worry that the CDC's revised opioid-prescription guidelines won't help patients enough

Opioid prescriptions in the U.S. have fallen more than 40 percent over the past decade in response to the opioid overdose and addiction crisis. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has played a role in that by encouraging doctors to prescribe fewer painkillers, but that has made it more difficult for patients with chronic pain to get the medication they need. The CDC has drafted a new version, on which the public-comment period just ended, "but some worry it doesn't protect patients enough," Will Stone reports for NPR.

New CDC guidelines in 2016 encouraged doctors to be wary of opioid addiction and advised them to start at a low dose and avoid prescribing high doses. Amanda Votta, a Rhode Island graduate student who has rheumatoid arthritis, told Stone that it became much harder for her to get any kind of opioid prescription at all, and that she was often in great pain.

"There's broad agreement now that the 2016 guidelines were misapplied to pain patients like Votta," Stone reports. Dr. Roger Chou, who helped write the 2016 guidelines, told Stone the guidelines were only meant to guide doctors, not stop them from prescribing appropriate medication to patients with chronic pain.

The CDC's new prescribing guidelines show promise, some experts say. "The top-line recommendations no longer include specifics about the dose or duration a patient shouldn't exceed when taking opioids. The draft also warns up front that the guidelines should not be used as inflexible standards of care," Stone reports. But the lack of specific guidance could make some doctors uncomfortable and cause them to stop prescribing opioids at all, another expert said.

Coronavirus cases in Kentucky dropped again, but the state's positive-test rate and deaths attributed to Covid-19 ticked up a bit

Kentucky Health News graph and table from weekly state reports

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

Coronavirus cases and hospitalizations dropped again in Kentucky last week, but deaths and the share of Kentuckians testing positive for the virus ticked back up a bit. 

From last Monday through Sunday, the standard reporting week, the state's weekly report showed 3,117 new cases of the virus, an average of 445 per day. The week before, the average was 564 per day.

Of  the new cases, 22% were in people 18 and younger. 

Kentucky Health News graph from weekly state reports

The share of Kentuckians testing positive for the virus in the past seven days is 2.27%, up from 1.97% in the previous week's report. 

The state attributed 172 more deaths to Covid-19 last week, an average of 24.6 per day. That's up from 19.3 per day last week, but still lower than it was for several weeks prior. The state's pandemic death toll is 15,200.

The recent Covid-19 outbreaks in Asia show that the Omicron variants now circulating are "deadly in unvaccinated people," The Economist reports.

Kentucky's seven-day infection rate dropped to 4.09 daily cases per 100,000 residents. Counties with rates more than double the statewide rate were Hancock, 13.1; Henderson, 12.3; Knott, 11.6; Trimble, 10.1; Morgan, 8.6; Metcalfe, 8.5; and Anderson, 8.2. The good news is that 20 Kentucky counties have an infection rate of zero. 

While the number of daily cases has declined 45% in the last two weeks, Kentucky's infection rate ranks 12th among the states and Washington, D.C., according to The New York Times.

Kentucky hospitals reported 198 patients with Covid-19, with 29 of them in intensive care and 14 on mechanical ventilation. Only three of the state's hospital regions (Northern Kentucky, Barren River and the Bluegrass) are using at least 80% of their intensive-care beds, but have very few Covid-19 patients. Statewide, nearly 53% of beds, 74% of intensive-care beds and nearly 23% of ventilators are in use. 

Cases and hospitalizations are ticking up in some states. Becker's Hospital Review reports that Covid-19 cases increased 3% over the past 14 days, marking the first change in direction after two months of sustained declines, with infections increasing in 26 states and Washington, D.C., as of April 11. In addition, hospitalizations have ticked up in nine states.