FRANKFORT, Ky. (Oct. 5, 2020) – Gov. Andy Beshear on Monday updated Kentuckians on the state’s continuing efforts to fight the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) and also stressed the continued importance of everyone wearing face coverings, calling it the single most important thing all of us can do to fight COVID-19.
“This is our greatest and most important tool for getting back to everything we want to do,” the Governor said. “Do the right thing: Mask up.”
Unfortunately, Gov. Beshear said the rising number of cases is going to spark a response from government unless and until Kentuckians get the growth under control.
“We cannot have repeats of last week. Last week was our single highest week in terms of positive cases,” the Governor said. “The week before had been the highest week, and we shattered that record.”
Gov. Beshear said he would focus this week on stepping up enforcement on regulations put in place to protect Kentuckians during the coronavirus crisis. Businesses should not serve customers who refuse to wear a mask, the Governor said.
“I think we have to do better, and we can do better,” the Governor said. “While it has been a challenge, when you look at just about any comparison across the country, Team Kentucky has done an incredible job.”
Case Information – Monday, Oct. 5
As of 4 p.m. Oct. 5, Gov. Beshear said there were at least 73,158 coronavirus cases in Kentucky, 543 of which were newly reported Monday. Sixty-nine of the newly reported cases were from children ages 18 and younger, of which nine were children ages 5 and under. The youngest was only 1 month old.
“I believe that is the highest Monday, certainly in the last four weeks and by an appreciable amount,” the Governor said.
Unfortunately, Gov. Beshear reported five new deaths Monday, raising the total to 1,214 Kentuckians lost to the virus.
The deaths reported Monday include a 69-year-old man from Boyd County; an 85-year-old man and two women, ages 91 and 99, from Daviess County; and a 71-year-old man from Robertson County.
As of Monday, there have been at least 1,539,707 coronavirus tests performed in Kentucky. The positivity rate was 4.69%, and at least 12,445 Kentuckians have recovered from the virus.
For additional information, including up-to-date lists of positive cases and deaths, as well as breakdowns of coronavirus infections by county, race and ethnicity, click here. To see all recent daily reports, click here.
Information about COVID-19 and schools is also being made available. To view the reports, click here for K-12 and here for colleges and universities.
Case Information – Sunday, Oct. 4
Due to limited reporting on the weekends, some updated information is now available from Sunday, Oct. 4.
As of Sunday, there were 1,531,072 coronavirus tests performed in Kentucky. The positivity rate was at 4.76% and at least 12,178 Kentuckians had recovered from the virus.
For a detailed look at coronavirus case information from Sunday, Oct. 4, can be found under the daily reports section at kycovid19.ky.gov.
Dr. Stack Update
Dr. Steven Stack, commissioner of the Kentucky Department for Public Health, provided an updated Monday on the state of the coronavirus fight in Kentucky.
“We are clearly now in an escalation. There is no doubt about it,” Dr. Stack said. “We are unfortunately now on an experiment here in the state of Kentucky to prove or disprove, in a manner of speaking, if our rural state will experience the same tragedies that have unfolded elsewhere. I think one of the tragedies that plays in to this is this is something that is at least theoretically in our control if we choose different behaviors.”