Beshear laments continued record case numbers, deaths; special session closer

FRANKFORT/CORBIN, Ky. (WTVQ) – An emotional health care worker detailed the issues her hospital is facing

Woodford County, which has the state’s highest vaccination rate, is the only orange county in the state/click map to enlarge

Monday during Gov. Andy Beshear’s COVID update briefing.

Sherrie Mays, vice-president at Baptist Health Corbin and a 38-year veteran of health care, said she’d never seen anything like what the hospital has seen this month.

She became emotional asking state residents to not only pray for the patients which fill her facility, but also the nurses and doctors struggling to provide care while maintaining their own mental and physical health.

Baptist Corbin has closed its surgery department to free up more space for COVID patients and staff to handle them.

Mays said the hospital is seeing a significant increase in patients in the 20- to 60-year-old age groups. Of the 175 patients in the hospital Monday morning, 65 are COVID patients she said. Of those, 14 are on ventilators and the hospital has 10 more available with five more on order.

Dr. Jeffrey Foxx, a doctor at Baptist Health Lexington who was one of the first COVID cases in the state and almost died during three weeks in a coma on a ventilator, also pleaded with state residents to get vaccinated.

“It’s not a political issue,” he said. “It’s a public health issue.”

The emotional presentations came as Beshear listed another record day of COVID cases, including 3,249 cases Sunday and 2,619 Monday, both records for the days. The state had 13 deaths Saturday, 18 Sunday and 25 Monday.

“Today is as rough as it gets,” Beshear said of the numbers, which included a 13.45% positivity rate, another record.

The state has 2,198 people in the hospital, an all-time high, 615 in the ICU, also a record, and 361 on a ventilator, a third record.

The 25 deaths reported Monday included five people under 40.

So far in August, the state has recorded 77,089 cases. Of the total, 18,909 are under 18. That’s 24.5% of the cases. In August 2020, 2,392 cases were kids under 18. That was 11.8% of the state total.

In addition, 58 of the state’s 94 hospitals are having critical staffing issues and that number is growing daily.

Beshear sounded cautiously optimistic about calling a special session of the Legislature to address COVID issues.

“I will call a special session as soon as I believe legislative leaders have reached a general consensus on what needs to be done,” Beshear said, noting it “needs to happen soon.”

He said the surge of cases in schools are among the biggest issues because schools need more “flexibility and options” for NTI days and other procedures.

“We’ve got to change now, change quickly,” he said, admitting though he is “realistic” in what the Legislature might do in terms of things like universal masking.

He noted if the Legislature agrees to at least establish a metric for counties with high numbers of cases, that might at least be a step.

“I know I’m not going to get all the tools I think we need, but I am going to do the best I can with the tools we have,” he said, repeating several times the state is in “tough times” and he and hist staff are doing the “very best” they can to help as many people” as they can.

Beshear also acknowledged a meeting with Republican New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu who made a surprise visit to the state to talk to Beshear and his staff about the state’s response to the COVID surge. The visit drew some questions and criticism from Democrats in the state who questioned him coming to the home of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and the possibility Sununu might run for the Senate.

“Governor Sununu was hear to see what we are doing…to see some of the things we’ve done, how we’ve moved resources and equipment to try to stay ahead,” Beshear explained.

Also, when asked about reopening field hospitals like the ones that were at UK and the fairgrounds in Louisville last year, Beshear said those weren’t in the works.

“The issue we are facing is not beds, it’s staffing,” he said. “Field hospitals don’t solve the issue right now…right now the need is to increase staffing.”