Governor Andy Beshear announced CARES Act funding reimbursements Monday afternoon that will help many counties and cities in western Kentucky.
The governor says the funding is administered by the Department of Local Government.
Nearly $850,600 will go to Christian County Fiscal Court to cover payroll for first responders. Judge-Executive Steve Tribble says the money was received on Monday, August 10.
Logan County received over $368,000 and the City of Murray over $1.3 million for payroll expenses. The City of Benton also received nearly $227,000 to be used for radio announcements, sneeze guards, telework supplies, emergency sick leave for employees, and police payroll.
In addition, Public Health Commissioner Dr. Steven Stack spoke Monday to remind clinicians and labs to properly report their data, as state law says they must report new COVID-19 cases. Stack also explained all of the systems in how they get new case data and how they use that data to inform the public.
In upcoming announcements, Governor Beshear says the state will announce a plan Tuesday on how they will announce school districts that have COVID-19 outbreaks.
He adds that even if results come in quickly, the children or teacher may have already had many contacts.
After reporting 390 new COVID-19 cases Sunday, the state reported 376 Monday which is the result of fewer testing on the weekend. It’s the first time since July 13 the state has seen fewer than 400 cases in consecutive days.
The state’s seven-day rolling average of new cases is 656, while the positivity rate crept up to 5.8-percent marking the 25th straight day the number has topped five-percent.
The state reported 563 hospitalizations which were under 600 for the second straight day. There were 717 people in the hospital due to COVID-19 ten days ago.
In the state’s long-term care facilities, there are 772 active cases among residents and staff. There have been 506 deaths in those facilities which account for 61-percent of the state’s coronavirus deaths.
Kentucky has reported 83 COVID-19 deaths this month, compared to 95 in the first 17 days of July. Kentucky’s death rate per million people is 182 which is well below the national average of 524 and ranks as 15th lowest in the nation.
