The state of Kentucky, like Ohio, reported its largest-ever day-over-day increase in COVID-19 diagnoses Sunday afternoon. Kentucky’s was smaller — 253 newly identified cases as opposed to Ohio’s 1,353 — but still a sign that the state cannot yet prepare to reopen its economy, Gov. Andy Beshear said in his daily afternoon news conference.
With 32,319 tests performed statewide, 2,960 Kentuckians have been diagnosed with the novel coronavirus and 148 have died. About 1,122 have recovered.
Notably, slightly more than one-third of all COVID-19 deaths in the state — 50 of them — have occurred at long-term care facilities for seniors.
“We are still in the midst of this fight against a deadly and highly contagious virus,” Beshear said. “Let’s make sure, as much as we’re looking at those benchmarks (to reopen) and we’re looking at the future, we’re acting in the present and we’re doing the things that it takes to protect one another.”
The state’s test count will grow significantly in the upcoming week, Beshear said, as four new drive-thru COVID-19 testing sites open at Kroger stores in Madisonville, Paducah, Somerset and Pikeville.
Health care workers and first responders who may have been exposed, people with COVID-19 symptoms, and people with other symptoms who may have been exposed to the virus should sign up online to receive one of the available tests.
