Pools can open June 29, all state parks June 1; 5-week-old among new

FRANKFORT, Ky. (WTVQ) – With the number of new cases trending downward, some numbers still are cause for concern.

But some excitement also came from Gov. Andy Beshear’s daily briefing Thursday.

That included the June 29 opening of Kentucky Kingdom in Louisville and the ability of pools across the state to open the same day.

Beshear said he did not know whether every community will open its pool or how different public pools will handle the opening.

“It will look very different,” he said of Kentucky Kingdom, which he praised for the detailed plan it put together to be able to reopen while protecting health.

The park has a 300-plus page reopening plan and covers reopening in phases.

Guidance for pools also is detailed.

“It won’t be easy to meet the guidance,” he said, noting the opening will have “very limited capacity” and could be expensive. “Not everyone will.”

In addition, the four state parks that had been closed to keep health care facilities in reserve, are now being freed up and will reopen June 1. That includes popular Lake Cumberland, which is a big economic engine for Pulaski and surrounding counties.

The others are Buckhorn Lake and Lake Barkley.

“We are very excited,” Beshear said, noting the state will monitor capacity, social-distancing and enforce health and safety guidelines.

“It’s going to be important that if we see something wrong you speak up,” Beshear said.

The Kentucky Horse Park is reopening June 11 with the first horse show there June 17-21. Fayette County schools are using the facility for graduation this weekend.

Meanwhile, even though the numbers are down, some counties are seeing scary issues. For instance, of the new cases, one is a 5-week-old boy in Pike County, according to the Pike County Health Department.

The child is hospitalized. That county now has had a total of 29 cases. Of those 26 have recovered and two passed away.

The 113 new cases confirmed brings the state total to 9,184. The number of people tested topped 221,000.

Of the confirmed cases, 494 people remain in the hospital and 88 in ICU. And a total of 3,181 people have recovered.

The new cases include 15 in Jefferson, 12 in Fayette, six in Boone, three in Franklin, two in Shelby and one each in Anderson, lee, Mason, Menifee, Montgomery and Pulaski counties, among others.

The state recorded four new deaths, which brings the state’s total to 409.

“Anyone who says we ought to go back to the ‘old normal'” and sacrifice older residents are “simply wrong.”

Beshear spent a good portion of the first part of his briefing to stress the success of the “pain” the state endured to hold the line on the surge in coronavirus cases.

Many outside groups now rank Kentucky among the best-prepared to reopen its economy.

“We have to recognize it was not just a flu, we still have significant and profound loss…We have to honor the loss, we have to be committed…I know some people are pissed,” Beshear said.

“We are in a better place…but it’s still fragile. We have to remember the lessons we’ve learned,” he stated.

“The steps we have taken during the last 70 days have caused us significant economic hardship. But if the curve had continued, we would have had an even more devastating loss of life,” he said chastising people who might try to take advantage of the situation “for political gain.”

“Where we were going is so much scarier than where we have been.”