FRANKFORT, Ky. — Gov. Andy Beshear reported 58 Kentuckians died of coronavirus Thursday, the highest daily COVID-19 death toll recorded since the pandemic began.
Thursday's report includes a 68 year-old woman from Boone County, an 83-year-old woman from Campbell County, an 82-year-old woman and a 69-year-old man from Grant County, and three women, ages 75, 77, 78, and an 85-year-old man from Kenton County.
Since March, 3,301 Kentuckians have died of the virus. Those victims will be memorialized in a ceremony Friday at the Kentucky capitol, featuring a sea of more than 3,000 flags representing each person lost.
"These are all children of God, loved by their family, needed by their community and deeply, deeply missed," Beshear said during his Thursday briefing.
Kentucky also reported 3,728 new COVID-19 cases, the lowest total for a Thursday in more than four weeks. Since March, 338,034 Kentuckians have tested positive for coronavirus.
Hospitalizations fell again Thursday, with 1,604 Kentuckians currently hospitalized for COVID-19, 395 people in intensive care units and 209 on ventilators. The state's test positivity rate continued to fall Thursday (11.05%).
The state's coronavirus fatality rate now sits at 0.97%; according to Johns Hopkins, the U.S. has a COVID-19 mortality rate of 1.7%.
Using the state's contact tracing database, NKY Health reports 4,569 active coronavirus cases in Boone, Campbell, Grant and Kenton counties, and 26,040 people have recovered from the virus as of Thursday. Since the pandemic began, 189 Northern Kentuckians have died from the virus.
As Kentucky continues to roll out COVID-19 vaccines, Beshear again called on the federal government to double the state's weekly allotment of vaccine. With Kentucky on pace to administer roughly 80,000 doses per week, its currently weekly allotment hovers around 57,000 doses.
About 1,500 hospitals, local health departments and other clinics are standing by to receive and give out COVID-19 vaccines, Beshear said. But with the amount of doses being shipped to Kentucky, each facility would only get 36 vaccines if they were evenly distributed.
“What we’re facing is a supply issue. If we had more, we would want you to have some, but I hope in the midst of a pandemic our first reaction isn’t ‘me,’ it’s ‘we,'" the governor said.
More than 250,000 Kentuckians have received COVID-19 vaccine doses since the rollout began in December.
Watch a replay of the briefing in the player below:
