Kentucky hit an unwelcome milestone Wednesday with an all-time record high of new COVID-19 cases. Gov. Andy Beshear pointed to the total as further evidence that schools should roll back their planned start dates.
"Today, we're announcing 1,163 positive cases of COVID-19," Beshear revealed.
The update marked the first time Kentucky's new case count topped 1,000, but Beshear noted that it included both the day's regularly-tallied numbers and a backlog caused by an IT glitch. Yet, despite the caveat, the governor said the report is another reason school districts should postpone in-person classes until September 28th.
While Beshear made the case for the delay with renewed urgency, he said his administration is not preparing to use executive orders to close schools that don't comply. The exception would be an extreme case, which he described as a "severe, proven threat to the health of the people in the school and a failure to take any action to address it."
Wednesday the state reported 39 new cases in children under five.
A number of districts have either signaled their intent to move forward with or consider in-person classes ahead of the governor's recommended start date. If they do so, Beshear strongly urged that they implement robust testing and cooperate with contact tracers.
