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On Sunday Governor Andy Beshear announced that Kentucky was nearing 35,000 positive cases of the Coronavirus with 425 new cases reported. Beshear said via video that there was “Some good news and some bad news in today’s COVID-19 report. In good news, we’re ending the week with about 330 fewer cases than we had last week. That’s directly attributable to people wearing their facial coverings or masks. Please keep it up, wear them even more, especially when you’re inside. On the bad side, our positivity rate, which won’t be official until tomorrow for this week, will be higher meaning that the virus continues to spread aggressively.”

On Saturday, Kentucky’s number of positive Coronavirus cases was up from Friday. Governor Andy Beshear posted a video update that there were 801 new cases and 8 new COVID-19 related deaths. Twenty-nine of the newly reported cases were from children age 5 and younger. Beshear said “Today is a tough day in our fight against COVID-19. I know we are slowing the growth of this virus in Kentucky, but it’s still aggressive. We simply need to do better.” The state’s positivity rate went from 5.51% on Friday to 6.02% on Saturday. “Our positivity rate is the highest we’ve had since we tested the entire Green River Correctional Facility back in May," said Beshear.

Free COVID-19 testing has been expanded for employees working on the University of Kentucky campus. Starting Monday, the same on-campus testing sites being used for students will be open to employees. UK employees aren’t required to take the test before returning to on-site work.

The Fayette-County Health Department has reported a one-day high of 131 new COVID-19 cases from Friday, Lexington had 602 positive cases through the first week of August. There have been 3,857 cases and 47 deaths in Fayette County since the start of the outbreak in March.

Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron can move forward with a defense of a state abortion law, according to a U.S. Appeals Court ruling.

This week: Rock & Roots featured new music from Karen Jonas (Pink Leather Boots), Satellite And The Harpoonist (Satellite Man), Elliot Brood (Stay Out),

On Thursday Governor Andy Beshear extended his mask-wearing requirement for another 30 days and announced that the state fair would be limited to participants only. The actions came as the state tries  to continue to slow the spread of Coronavirus and halt a spike seen a little over a week ago. When it comes to facial coverings Beshear said “It’s working and since we made it mandatory more people are wearing them…We have fewer cases this week through Thursday than we did last week.” Beshear said compliance would be a crucial step to saving lives, allowing the economy to rebound and getting children back into the classroom.

If the state’s Coronavirus numbers continue into a plateau, Governor Andy Beshear may reopen bars next week but they won’t look the same as they did before the virus hit Kentucky. The statewide cases from Monday to Wednesday this week were down by about a hundred from the same time period last week. That could be good news for some businesses. Last week Beshear issued a mandate closing bars and had restaurants drop back down from 50% indoor capacity to 25% because of escalating cases of COVID-19.  While the positivity rate went up slightly Wednesday, 5.51% compared to 5.24% on Tuesday, there was hope from public health officials that the number of positive cases were holding steady.