During his Monday weekly news conference, Governor Andy Beshear noted while cases and testing positivity look to be plateauing in Kentucky, he and the state’s health officials are closely watching the coronavirus concerns growing exponentially in Europe — in which new cases and deaths have recently been on an alarming rise to pre-vaccination levels.
In a November 15 report from MIT Technology Review, multiple European epidemiologists pointed to a myriad of factors causing the crescendo of new COVID cases across the pond, including the faster spread of the “Delta” variant, the relaxation of mitigation strategies such as social distancing and masking, and less-than-ideal vaccination rates in specific countries.
A variety of familiar measures — from Austria banning unvaccinated individuals from visiting restaurants, cafes and ski lifts, to the Netherlands imposing partial restrictions and an 8 p.m. curfew on stores and restaurants and empty stadiums for professional sports — have been put into effect.
At the micro-level, Beshear said there were 1,561 new cases Saturday with 45 new deaths, 747 new cases Sunday with 11 new deaths, and 726 new cases Monday with 10 new deaths, and a testing positivity of 5.73%.
This week, Kentucky health officials reported 9,506 new cases of COVID-19 across the state — up from 7,919 new cases the week prior, and 8,603 new cases two weeks ago. Beshear noted that both testing positivity and the rate of new cases are still higher than many instances during both the “Alpha” and “Delta” surges, and still at very serious levels.
But Beshear continued to echo the same message he’s held since the summer, in which the state’s population now has more health tools in hand — including vaccinations, boosters, universal masking in public schools, monoclonal antibody treatment and the continued study and advancement in medicinal COVID-19 treatment.
More than 24,000 new vaccinations occurred over the weekend, and Beshear added more than 425,000 Kentuckians have received COVID-19 boosters. As of Monday, more than 2.6 million Kentuckians had received at least one dose of the vaccine, with those numbers quickly rising as 5-to-11 year olds recently began receiving their inoculations.
Beshear said this was an age group that’s long needed protection against the virus, citing that 1.9 million patients in that range across America have tested positive since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 — putting more than 8,300 children in the hospital and accounting for more than 90 deaths nationwide.
In Kentucky, hospitalizations have decreased four percent over the last seven rolling days, and Beshear said 36 of 96 state hospitals are now reporting critical staffing shortages — as those numbers continue to decline in a promising direction.
