With highest one-day actual COVID total, Beshear hopes for ‘jolt,’ ‘shock’

FRANKFORT, Ky. (WTVQ) – With a new single-day record in new coronavirus cases, Gov. Andy Beshear sounded more alarmed Wednesday, suggesting the state could be headed toward being one of the worst state’s in the country if residents don’t push “complacency aside.”

“I’ve said this should be a wake-up call or maybe a jolt or shock to the system, but everybody ought to be concerned and everybody ought to be doing the right thing. Let’s push the complacency out and let’s get the urgency back in,” Beshear said during his daily briefing, which again came from his quarantine in the Governor’s Mansion after his family’s exposure to the coronavirus during the weekend.

“We have to do the right thing, we have to step it up…we have to push complacency aside,” the governor continued.

He noted Kentucky is 12th on the White House escalation list and climbing.

Overall, Beshear announced  1,346 new cases. That is lower than one day last week when a number of backlogged cases from Fayette County. But without those backlogs, Wednesday’s number is the state’s single highest.

“These are actual cases, no backlogs…we have to stop this escalation,” said Beshear, who had sounded a note of optimism Tuesday when Monday and Tuesday combined were slightly lower than the same two days last week.

That hint of optimism was gone Wednesday as the state appeared back on another record pace.

The new cases pushed the state’s total 83,013. If the new cases, 171 are in kids under 18.

The new cases also saw a number of double-digit increases across the region, including 34 in Pike, 24 in Scott, 23 in Madison, 20 in Shelby, 19 in Jessamine, 18 each in Laurel, Rockcastle and Whitley counties, 17 in Knox, 12 in Perry and 10 in Boyle.

The closely watched numbers are part of the concern over the escalation.

The state’s positivity rate edged up to 4.72 percent while the number of people in the hospital is up to 711, in ICU up to 185 and on ventilators at 113, the first time over 100 in weeks.

“We are seeing a serious increase,” Beshear said of those key barometers. “We have the capacity but we don’t want it to overwhelm us.”

The governor also reported seven deaths, bringing the state total to 1,276.

The deaths include a 76-year-old man from Boyd County; a 76-year-old man from Bullitt County; a 49-year-old woman from Fayette County; a 78-year-old man from Franklin County; an 82-year-old woman from Henderson County; a 76-year-old man from Jefferson County; and an 81-year-old man from Webster County.

The Governor also said two Kentucky veterans who were at the Thomson-Hood Veterans Center in Wilmore were among those who died from COVID-19.

“They were at the Lexington VA,” he said. “Those are now the second and third veterans in our nursing homes who we have lost. It’s another reason to make sure we’re doing everything we can to stop the spread of this virus.”

Long-term care centers overall across the state continue to see increases. As of Wednesday, the state had 857 active cases among residents of long-term care centers and 545 among staff members. A total of 777 deaths have been linked to long-term care facilities.

For 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.

Dr. Steven Stack, KDPH commissioner, provided more detailed information Wednesday about the state of the coronavirus in the commonwealth and testing issues.

He encouraged residents to take advantage of more than 300 testing locations throughout the commonwealth, which can be found at kycovid19.ky.gov. Dr. Stack also highlighted new partnerships in some areas that need service.

“One of the central missions of public health is to try to help make sure underserved and disadvantaged individuals have access to health care just like everybody else,” Dr. Stack said.

The new testing sites include: Purchase District Health Department, serving McCracken, Ballard, Carlisle, Hickman and Fulton counties, at PurchaseHealth.org; Ashland-Boyd Health Department, serving Boyd, Greenup, Carter and Lawrence counties, at ABCHDKentucky.com; the Kentucky River Health Department, serving Lee, Wolfe and Owsley counties at KRDHD.org; and Lincoln Trail Health Department, serving Hardin, Meade, LaRue, Nelson, Marion, Washington, Breckinridge and Grayson counties at LTDHD.org.

Dr. Stack also reminded everyone that, beginning next week, Kentucky will change the way it calculates the positivity rate. Going forward, Kentucky will use COVID-19 PCR tests that are sent in electronically to make the calculation.

“PCR tests are the gold standard – those are the most reliable – for finding active disease in currently infected people,” Dr. Stack said.

Dr. Stack said there were four main benefits to moving to using the PCR tests to calculate the positivity rate: automated collection of data, a more stable data stream, filter for the past seven days and a quick turnaround on testing results.

Gov. Beshear emphasized that the change will not take place until next week to give everyone – hospitals, state officials, media and citizens – enough time to analyze and ask questions about the move before it happens.