First six vaccine lottery winners are announced; rate of new virus cases in Kentucky falls, but positive-test rate keeps going up

Winners of Kentucky's first "Shot at a Million" lottery in Capitol rotunda (Governor's office photo)

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

Gov. Andy Beshear announced the first winners of Kentucky's vaccine lottery on Friday, giving $1 million to one recipient and full-ride postsecondary education scholarships to five Kentucky youth.

Patricia Short, of the Lexington-Winchester area, won the first of three $1 million prizes that will be awarded to vaccinated Kentuckians. 

After expressing her gratitude, Short encouraged everyone to go get vaccinated and to register online to be eligible for future drawings. "Get vaccinated, that's the important thing," she said. "Then you can register and you can win this too."

Patricia Short shakes hands with Gov. Andy Beshear 
after winning $1 million in the lottery. (WDRB photo)

Short was in the news in January when she told WLEX-TV that she and her husband were sleeping on the floor at a friend's place because they could no longer afford one of their own, having not received the unemployment benefits for which she had applied six months earlier. That wasn't mentioned in their visit with Beshear Friday, but it was noted by the station and Chris Otts of Louisville's WDRB.

Winners of the scholarships were Jalen Crudup of Elizabethtown, Crystal Frost of Crestwood, Tyler Henson of Mt. Sterling, Adison Sullenger of Princeton and Alex VonderHaar, of Louisville. 

Several of the recipients and their families encouraged Kentuckians to get vaccinated after expressing their gratitude for the scholarships, including Crudup, who said: "I would like to encourage everyone to get vaccinated.”

The remaining "Shot at a Million" drawings are set for July 29 and Aug. 26, with one millionaire and five scholarship recipients announced the day following each drawing. Those who did not win in the first drawing remain eligible for the other two. To learn more or to register, go to shotatamillion.ky.gov. 

Beshear said that since the 11:59 p.m. Wednesday deadline for entering the first drawing, more than 35,000 Kentuckians had entered for the next two. The lottery aims to spur vaccinations, which have lagged since mid-April, when they averaged about 40,000 per day.

In the two weeks after the lottery was announced, vaccinations approximately doubled, from about 9,000 to about 18,000 a day, but have generally fallen since. The seven-day average is just under 10,000 per day.

Pandemic numbers: After increasing for three straight days, the state's seven-day average of new coronavirus cases fell by six Friday, to 183 per day. It had fallen to 163 per day, the lowest in a year, before the increases began.

The state reported 172 new cases of the virus Friday and 215 on Thursday; the Thursday report was delayed until Friday morning by problems in the federal reporting system, state officials said.

While new-case numbers and averages fell, the share of Kentuckians testing positive for the virus in the last seven days jumped 0.1 percentage point, to 2.09%. It was below 2% for 11 days, but has increased for seven days in a row.

Hospitalizations have also increased lately. Kentucky hospitals reported 201 patients with Covid-19, 10 more than Thursday and 21 more than Wednesday. As usual, a little over a fourth of the state's Covid-19 patients are in intensive care, and just under half of those are on ventilators.

The state's seven-day rate of daily new cases per 100,000 residents, which rose to 3.47 on Wednesday, fell to 3.44 Thursday and 3.35 Friday.

Counties with rates more than double that rate are LaRue, 15.9; Webster, 15.5; Owen, 11.8; Leslie, 11.6; Hopkins, 11.2; Logan, 11.1; Graves, 10.7; Lyon, 10.4; Powell, 10.4; Grant, 10.3; Union, 9.9; Pike, 9.6; Estill, 8.1; Gallatin, 8.1; Perry, 7.8; Simpson, 7.7; Martin, 7.7; and Knott, 6.8.

Three Covid-19 deaths were reported on Thursday and six on Friday, bringing the death toll of the pandemic in Kentucky to 7,229. The state has had no day of double-digit deaths since June 10, when 17 were reported.

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

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

By Sarah Ladd
Kentucky Lantern

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

For more information on applying, visit this website.

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

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

By Melissa Patrick

Kentucky Health News

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

By Al Cross

Kentucky Health News

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

hopkinsmedicine.org photo

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

By Jacob Munoz
Louisville Public Media

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Guardrails and gaps

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A need for resources

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

By Melissa Patrick and Al Cross
Kentucky Health News

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In other pandemic news Friday:

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

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

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

By Melissa Patrick and Al Cross
Kentucky Health News

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Beshear: 'We're looking at months' of restrictions, but they can be relaxed selectively if 'significantly on the downward' from peak

UK HealthCare employees sent this photo to thank a Lexington restaurant for providing them dinner.

As news develops in Kentucky about the coronavirus and its covid-19 disease, this item may be updated. Official state guidance is at https://kycovid19.ky.gov.

By Al Cross
Kentucky Health News

With signs that the coroinavirus pandemic may be approaching its peak in New York, the nation's main hotspot, Gov. Andy Beshear tried to disabuse Kentuckians of the notion that life will return to normal in a matter of weeks.

"While we're looking at months, we're not looking at years," Beshear said near the start of his daily briefing. Asked later what he would have to see before lifting his orders for social distancing, Beshear noted that Japan had a resurgence when it lifted such measures, much like St. Louis did after first responding well to the 1918 influenza pandemic.

Graph shows resurgence after social-
distancing measures were relaxed.

“After what we’re seeing in Japan, where they did them too early, what we kind of see in that St. Louis graph, where they bump up again, I really want people committed right now, dug in 100 percent and resilient, to continue this as long as it takes.” Earlier, he said “There could be this second bump that takes people away from us.”

He said that before loosening social-distancing measures, Kentucky must not only be past its peak, “We’re gonna have to be significantly on the downward slide from it, and then it’s not gonna be everything at once. It can’t be.”

He said relaxation of social distancing would differentiate between activities and populations, depending on their resiliency or vulnerability.

“It’s gonna be really complicated and it’s probably gonna seem unfair to a lot of people,” he said. “Until we know we’re in a decline, let’s spend our time being committed to doing what it takes.”

Earlier, Dr. Steven Stack, the state health commissioner, said “We are gonna have to hold together in the weeks and coming months.”

In other coronavirus news Thursday:

• Beshear reported six new covid-19 deaths in Kentucky, two of which he said "can be traced to a specific mass gathering in Hopkins County," and 134 new cases, for a corrected official total of 1,452. Twelve of the new cases are in Hopkins County, which he said "has been hit really, really hard."
• The governor said 426 people have been hospitalized with covid-19 in Kentucky, and 228 remain so. He said 166 have been in intensive-care units, with 105 in them now. He said at least 395 have recovered, and many more are close to recovery.
• Kentucky now has several machines that can deliver coronavirus test results "in a matter of minutes, significantly expanding the state’s otherwise limited testing capacity," the Lexington Herald-Leader reports. "The sweeping impact of the machines, however, will be blunted, at least initially, as the state has only received 120 corresponding rapid tests."
  
• The Trump administration is planning a testing program for cities and towns that haven't been heavily hit by the virus, as a way of getting information needed to reopen the economy, Bloomberg reports.
• Baptist Health is furloughing employees, cutting executive pay and making other staff changes, citing the virus. It didn't mention Gov. Andy Beshear's order that stopped elective procedures, but such orders have been cited as reasons for hospital furloughs in Kentucky and other states. "Furloughs affect regular full-time and part-time employees who don’t support caregivers or aren’t critical to clinical operations related to covid-19," the Herald-Leader reports. "The University of Kentucky Chandler Hospital also has told workers it will redeploy some employees while others will have to apply for unemployment" benefits.
• Asked what the state could do to help hospitals, Beshear said he is working on ideas such as bridge loans, Medicaid reimbursement changes, help with buying personal protective equipment, and possible use of federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act money. He said “significant dollars” are needed because the lack of elective procedures “has just decimated their balance sheets.”
• Beshear said he had a good conversation Wednesday night with Vice President Mike Pence and asked for help in locating PPE. "He said he would start working on it," Beshear said. "Our requests are pretty reasonable." He said work with other sources should produce "some real success" in the next two days.
• The University of Louisville said it would furlough employees and reduce the pay of employees making $100,000 or more a year.
• UK HealthCare and Baptist Health have partnered with the Kentucky Blood Center to collect plasma from Kentuckians who have recovered from covid-19 to build up a "plasma bank" that can be used for serious or immediately life-threatening infections, says a UK Now news release. The Food and Drug Administration recently released guidelines to allow this investigative therapy, which could help covid-19 patients recover faster by offering passive immunity from the antibodies in the donated plasma. The Cynthiana Democrat reports on a man who had a mild case and donated plasma. Click here for the donor information form.
• Beshear relaxed workers' compensation rules to allow temporary total disability payments to several types of workers who have to quarantine because of possible exposure to the virus: child-care, grocery, postal-service and social workers, corrections officers, military personnel and workers at domestic violence shelters and rape crisis centers.
• The governor said one more inmate and one more employee at Green River Correctional Complex in Central City, and three more employees at Western State Hospital in Hopkinsville, had tested positive for the virus.
• Beshear said he had closed Natural Bridge and Cumberland Falls state resort parks because of gatherings at the popular facilities.
• He played a video of four faith leaders urging people to stay at home and said, “I couldn’t be more grateful, and I couldn’t be more proud, of our pastors, ministers, rabbis, imams, deacons and everyone else for not only recognizing that we need to be worshiping at home, but for all that they offer.”
• One of Beshear's pastors at Beargrass Christian Church in Louisville talked with Jack Brammer of the Herald-Leader about the governor's faith as the administration planned how to deal with a few churches that are still holding services despite his emergency orders.
• The state lottery warned of an increase in scam phone calls telling players they have won a big prize from the lottery, asking them to pre-pay taxes or provide bank-account information.
• Pike County officials issued cease-and-desist orders to a cosmetologist and massage therapist who kept providing services in their homes despite a visit from a law enforcement officer. Health Director Tammy Riley told the Herald-Leader that the county has received many complaints about violators, but most of them have complied upon request.
  
  Read more here: https://www.kentucky.com/news/coronavirus/article241896796.html#storylink=cpy
  
  Read more here: https://www.kentucky.com/news/coronavirus/article241896796.html#storylink=cpy
• A Lawrenceburg man faces menacing and disorderly-conduct charges, alleging he coughed on and threw punches at someone in the Walmart parking lot, The Anderson News reports. Ronnie Kelly’s "bond was set at $250 and his release conditions included a two-week medical quarantine," the Herald-Leader reports.
• Senate Democrats blocked Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's effort to add $250 billion to the new loan program for small businesses distressed by the pandemic, asking addition of $100 billion for hospitals and $150 billion for state and local governments. McConnell said, "I want to add more money to the only part of our bipartisan bill that is currently at risk of running out of money. . . . We cannot play games with this crisis." House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the House would not approve that under unanimous-consent rules that allow passage of bills with few members present.
• "Lexington restaurants are coping with the coronavirus shutdown but many are reaching out to give to others, too," Janet Patton reports for the Herald-Leader. "Some are sending food to hospitals and first responders; others are feeding those in need, including fellow hospitality workers who have been laid off."
• The Washington Post tells the story of how the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention traced a Chicago coronavirus cluster to two family gatherings, and how 16 likely cases and three deaths traced back to one person. The case study, published Wednesday, "is one of the most detailed looks at how covid-19 moves through communities and shows how a single person can set off a chain reaction of infections," the Post reports. Here's a CDC chart about the process, called contact tracing:

Grimes and McConnell lay out differences on health reform

By Al Cross and Megan Ingros
Kentucky Health News

U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell kept attacking federal health-care reform and challenger Alison Lundergan Grimes gave her strongest defense of it yet as the candidates held the closest thing to a debate Wednesday, Aug. 20, at Kentucky Farm Bureau headquarters in Louisville.

Grimes was the most detailed she has been in a public discussion about health-care reform. Grimes indicated that she supports Kynect, the state health-insurance exchange, created by Gov. Steve Beshear and funded by Obamacare, where people sign up for Medicaid or buy insurance.

“For the first time ever, because of our governor, 500,000 Kentuckians are able to go to the doctor, their kids get checkups before school, and many of them are farm families in rural Kentucky,” she said. “The law isn’t perfect but we have to work to fix it. . . . We have to work to streamline the Affordable Care Act, to make sure there aren’t over-burdensome regulations on our businesses, especially our small businesses.”

Grimes endorsed President Obama’s delay in the law’s employer mandate and suggested that he should also live up to his promise that “If you like your doctor, you can keep it.”

She actually appeared to be referring to keeping old insurance policies, because her next words were, “We should be working to extend that grandfathering clause so we live up to that promise that Washington politicians made to Kentuckians. . . . It requires a senator, though, who doesn’t want to repeal root and branch the access to health care that Kentuckians just got for the first time.”

McConnell answered, “She won’t use the words, but she supports Obamacare, he single worst piece of legislation that’s been passed in the last half-century.”  He said Obamacare is going to cost jobs and it “ought to be pulled out root and branch and we ought to start over.”

McConnell said what should have been done is “truly national competition among health-insurance companies to keep prices down and quality up,” as well as “a national medical malpractice standard to bring some sanity to the litigation lottery that’s confronting every health-care provider in America; and thirdly, we need to allow small businesses to form groups for the purpose of more purchasing power on the open market.”

Citing a study by the Congressional Budget Office, McConnell said the law will only cover 10 million of the 40 million people who were uninsured, and will “cost 2.5 million jobs.” The study says the predicted reduction, through 2024, will come “almost entirely because workers will choose to provide less labor,” not because jobs will be eliminated.

McConnell said Kentucky will not be able to afford its expansion of the Medicaid program, which covers about three-fourths of the newly insured. “She applauds it,” he said. “It’s fine for the governor because the first three years the federal government will pick up 100 percent of the tab, but after that, the state’s going to be in serious financial problems.”

Beshear has cited studies showing that the Medicaid expansion will pay for itself by expanding the health-care industry and creating jobs, but Republicans say they are skeptical of that.

A video of the debate is available on the Farm Bureau website, www.kyfb.com, until Sept 20. The specific site is http://new.livestream.com/accounts/7542430/events/3309694.

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

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

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

Anthony Fauci (CBS image)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Beshear starts incentives to get people vaccinated, including 15 scholarships for students 12-17 and three $1 million drawings

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

As coronavirus vaccination rates in Kentucky keep slowing, Gov. Andy Beshear has announced new lottery-style incentives: $1 million each for three residents who have received at least one dose, and 15 education scholarships for children between the ages of 12 and 17 who have received at least one shot. 

Beshear announces incentives (Photo by Melissa Patrick)

"We know Covid vaccines are life-saving. And now, for some people, they're going to be life-changing," Beshear said at a Friday news conference in the Capitol rotunda. 

In Kentucky, the daily number of vaccines given has dropped below 10,000, and the last seven days saw 44% fewer shots than the week before. The New York Times estimates that at the current rate, it will take Kentucky about two months to get 70% of its adults vaccinated with at least one dose. 

Beshear said he expects the incentives will result in a "significant increase" of vaccinations, noting that Ohio's similar $5 million sweepstakes saw a nearly 30% spike in vaccinations after its rollout. 

Statewide, 46.7% of Kentuckians have received at least one shot, 57% of adults have had at least one, and 38.7% are fully vaccinated.

The drawings will be held July 1, July 29 and Aug. 26 and winners will be announced the day after the drawings, on July 2, July 30 and Aug. 27. The last date to enter for each drawing is the day before the drawings.

Beshear said the money for the "Shot At a Million" drawings will come from the federal government's initial coronavirus relief funds.

Entry into the drawings are free and must be completed at shotatamillion.ky.gov, or by calling 855-598-2246 to enter. Once a person enters for a drawing, they will be eligible for all future drawings. 

Entry requires your name, birthdate, email address, phone number, home address and the name and location of your vaccination. Participants must agree to the rules and agree to have their vaccination information verified. 

Entry for the scholarship drawings has additional requirements: a parent or guardian’s name, email address and phone number. The scholarships can be used at a Kentucky public college, university or technical or trade school and will include tuition, room-and-board and books. 

"If you've already gotten your shot, good for you, you're eligible. All you have to do is sign up," Beshear said. "If you haven't gotten your shot, well get it. Protect your family and get qualified for this amazing opportunity." 

Go to vaccine.ky.gov to find a vaccination site. 

Not eligible for the incentives are non-residents of Kentucky; inmates incarcerated for a felony; employees of the governor's office, the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, the Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority and Kentucky Interactive LLC, and blood relatives, spouses or household members of such employees.

Kentucky Health News asked if there had been talk of offering incentives to counties with low vaccination rates, such as the 21 that are less than 25% fully vaccinated or those along the southern border, where rates are like the low rates in Southern states, putting them at risk of more contagious variants. 

Beshear acknowledged that the lower vaccination rates in Tennessee affect the border counties, and noted that it is important that every county gets the same information about the vaccines. He said in a call with judge-executives this week, the state asked to bring a vaccine mobile unit to all their festivals. 

The governor said offering incentives on a different scale could be an option, and added that local governments could use some of their recent American Rescue Plan Act money for such incentives. 

Eviction Relief Fund: Beshear announced that Lexington will get $11.7 million and Louisville $27 million for their eviction relief programs because they received fewer federal funds for them than expected.

The state got $264 million for its emergency rental assistance program and, working with partners, has processed over $18 million to landlords and utilities on behalf of 2,800 renter households, a news release said. All funds must be spent by Sept. 30, 2025. For more information visit https://teamkyhherf.ky.gov/.