State officials warned Tuesday that Kentucky is experiencing an exponential growth in cases of COVID-19 that, without intervention, could overwhelm the state’s healthcare system.
Gov. Andy Beshear said he'll announce new steps Wednesday to prevent the exponential growth, and in contrast to recent recommendations, he said these is going to be mandatory.
Kentucky recorded its highest daily death toll Tuesday: 33 new deaths from COVID-19. The youngest would be a 36-year-old woman and also the oldest, a 94-year-old man. It took a full minute and a half for Beshear to see the ages and counties of those who lost their lives.
“That's a lot of families, that’s lots of suffering that's occurring at this time all over the commonwealth,” Beshear said.
Three from the highest daily totals for brand new cases took place the last week. , Kentucky recorded another 2,931 installments of COVID-19. Those numbers included a minimum of 325 kids.
Even with health guidelines in place, cases still rise in long-term care and day care facilities. A week ago 989 K-12 students and 523 staff members tested positive, Beshear said. More than 7,000 students and staff are under quarantine consequently.
Jefferson and Franklin counties are recording a lot of new cases each day that contact tracers can no longer keep up. Director Judy Mattingly of the Franklin County Health Department said she's now asking people who test positive to do their own contact tracing.
“So your friend, member of the family or employer could be the someone to notify you that you are a contact to them like a positive case,” Mattingly said.
Public Health Commissioner Steven Stack said Kentucky is enduring another escalation of the virus. Kentuckians crushed the very first wave with aggressive measures, such as the shuttering of numerous businesses. The 2nd wave began to hit in June. Beshear put in place the statewide mask mandate in July, which Stack said helped usher inside a new plateau, until this newest wave.
“This is terrifying. This really is now growth from a higher starting place. The numbers show no indications of relenting,” Stack said.
It’s true that the death rate is lower than at the beginning of the pandemic. Scientists, doctors and nurses have discovered how you can perform the best they can with what we all know at this time, but there's only a lot capacity in our healthcare systems.
Stack asserted within the last 8 weeks, the state has roughly tripled the number of people in a healthcare facility with COVID-19.
Pikeville Medical Center CEO Donovan Blackburn warned they're visiting a significant improvement in hospitalizations, ICU patients and deaths in their service area.
“With 83 COVID patients and climbing, we, like a number of other hospitals within the state and region, are nearing our capacity. It's becoming increasingly difficult to accept COVID patients, particularly in our ICU,” he said.
Beshear said he will announce new steps on Wednesday to slow the exponential development in new cases, and in contrast to recent recommendations, he said these is going to be mandatory.
“Action has to be taken otherwise we are going to be handling a number of instances that may and can ultimately overwhelm the staffing we have for people to obtain the help they need,” he said.
Beshear didn’t show his hand on what the new steps will be, but said they'll include rules for bars and restaurants.
