Gov. Andy Beshear said he's confident COVID-19 cases will soon start to plateau after months of uncontrolled spread all through Kentucky.
Beshear's prediction came your day the first shipment of Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine arrived at Kentucky hospitals. He credited restrictions on public spaces and schools for curbing the spike.
“We are certainly seeing within our weekly numbers an effect from the recent steps that we took,” Beshear said. “We were in exponential growth that was truly frightening. If you don't take steps, aggressive steps, we feel by now we would've recently been significantly higher – doubling or tripling our daily numbers.”
Beshear announced 1,802 new cases Monday. He said which was lower than yesteryear two Mondays.
The positivity rate calculated through the state has additionally declined in recent days. Despite a small increase on Monday to eight.58%, Beshear said the speed dropped from week-to-week the very first time since mid-October.
“From October 11 all the way through last week, we had seen increase over increase,” Beshear said. “For the first time, there exists a week-to-week decrease.”
The positivity rate calculated by WFPL and Johns Hopkins is almost two times as high as the percentage used by Beshear. Beshear said that is because the state audits its cases before calculating the positivity rate, though he didn't provide much clarification on which that process entails or what cases may be removed from the calculation.
The governor also released new guidance for schools. Schools in red and orange counties, where community spread is high, will have the option to return to in-person classes starting in January.
Schools can start classes again Jan. 4, but Beshear and the Kentucky Department of Education recommend that in-person classes start no earlier than Jan. 11.
The state's “Healthy At School” guidelines will end up mandatory Jan. 4 for any district that returns. They might require schools to provide “meaningful” virtual options to students and accommodations to high-risk employees and educators.
Beshear said at least one district that wasn't offering AP classes virtually, which negatively impacted students' class ranks and other educational markers.
“If we're going to operate when a county is red, we must provide this meaningful virtual option that does not negatively change up the students that take it,” Beshear said.
Aside from the requirements, Beshear listed additional recommendations for schools in orange and red counties. Oc schools should create a hybrid or remote learning option. In red counties, the remote learning or hybrid model should be more “aggressive.”
“The more aggressive hybrid model will probably be at the discretion of the school district,” Beshear said. “It's asking to consider and also to take extra steps. Should you be already likely to start with a measure to lessen capacity, consider what the next step would be.”
