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.
The Governor indicated that there could be a change for schools who were planning to start in-person learning during the third week of August. “With this increase in positivity rate we’ll talk next week about what that means for school and in person classes. We’ve got to make sure that it’s safe for our students and for our teachers.”
Last week Beshear was hopeful that bars could reopen and restaurants would increase indoor capacity back to 50%. It’s unclear if the rising positivity rate will affect those plans.
The next live press briefing will be held at 4:00 pm on Monday.