Gov. Beshear again reported a brand new daily record for COVID-19 cases in Kentucky on Thursday.
The 3,649 new cases marked your fourth record-breaking total in nine days. Beshear said such exponential growth shows why it had been necessary to implement new restrictions on social gatherings, public spaces and schools now.
“It's continuing to develop, and it'll keep growing,” Beshear said. “Our job is to stop it. This is exactly why we've put these new steps into place.”
Beshear also announced the highest positivity rate to date, at 9.18%. Thirty new deaths were reported, the second-highest daily death toll of the pandemic. Nearly 80 Kentuckians have left due to COVID-19 previously 72 hours.
More than 1,500 Kentuckians are currently hospitalized. The number of Kentuckians on ventilators jumped to 199 – a one-day increase of 23.
“This is a tough day, however it shows why we had to take these steps, because next week is going to be worse,” Beshear said. “The week after that is going to be worse, unless we ultimately slow down this virus.”
Beshear urged Kentuckians to avoid Thanksgiving from becoming a “super-spreader event” if you take proper precautions and following limits on social gatherings. Restrictions are also in position at bars, restaurants, gyms and event venues.
Religious services and retail were not impacted by the capacity limits announced yesterday. Beshear said the decision to restrict certain industries was based on advice from public health experts to reduce spread in a “targeted way with very little disruption as possible.”
“This virus isn't fair for them,” he said. “It doesn't impact every business equally. It impacts businesses where people meet up – in gyms in which you breathe heavily, in other places where you take your mask off and congregate to consume or drink.”
While a $40 million relief fund has been established for restaurants and bars that'll be impacted by the restrictions, no financial help has been created readily available for other impacted industries. Beshear said he hopes the federal government will work towards a new relief package for businesses and workers who'll become unemployed.
