Kentucky has announced two more regional vaccination centers and a new website and hotline for people seeking answers regarding the eligibility and locations for COVID-19 vaccines.
www.vaccine.ky.gov is active and will allow people to learn whether or not they’re eligible for a vaccine, as well as locations they can receive the vaccine.
Public Health Commissioner Dr. Steven Stack warned that scheduling through the new vaccine portal will be busy at first and that not everyone who requests a vaccine appointment will be immediately accepted.
click to download audioGovernor Andy Beshear announced two new regional vaccination sites in western Kentucky. Both are in Paducah at Baptist Health and Mercy Health-Lourdes Hospital and will be online next week. Both hospitals have sign-up information on their websites.
State transportation secretary Jim Gray spent nearly 10 minutes at Thursday’s briefing to address the specifics of the regional vaccination site at Alltech Arena in Lexington. No specifics were offered for the other regional sites.
The governor said people 70 and older will be prioritized first at the regional locations.
click to download audioThere are now six regional sites in western Kentucky to receive the COVID-19 vaccine that also include Hopkinsville, Owensboro, Bowling Green, and Madisonville. There are 16 regional vaccine centers in eastern Kentucky. On Wednesday, Beshear said regional sites are determined based on population equity.
The state reported 2,947 new cases of COVID-19 Thursday. The 69 deaths announced were the most in a single day with the state to pass 1,000 deaths in January in the next two days.
The state’s testing positivity rate was nine percent, the lowest in nearly a month and the tenth straight day of a decline.
In an unemployment update, labor cabinet attorney Amy Cubbage said there are still 86,000 pending jobless claims from March to November. She said over 38,000 of them have had their identity verified to determine they aren’t fraudulent. She said those will be paid out but didn’t give a timeline.
Governor Beshear announced deadlines in April and July to have the unresolved claims paid. That hasn’t happened.
The state used over $22 million of CARES Act money to pay Ernst Young to help with processing the unpaid claims. In September, there were 73,000 pending jobless claims. It’s now over 86,000.
