Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear is loosening the state’s COVID-19 restrictions while highlighting the rise in coronavirus cases among younger residents.
“Let’s be clear. We will have a fourth wave of this virus unless we get everybody out and get vaccinated and we continue to engage in safe practices until that happens,” Beshear said during an April 19 briefing.
Like Ohio did earlier this month, Kentucky has simplified its multiple statewide health orders and “Healthy at Work” guidance, with Beshear noting that events at stadiums and arenas and graduation ceremonies could comfortably occur.
Minimum requirements now stipulate that events with 1,000 or fewer persons in a single room or space are limited to 60% capacity or the maximum number of individuals that permits appropriate physical distancing, whichever is lesser. For events hosting more than 1,000 persons, capacity is capped at the lesser of 50% or the maximum attendance that permits appropriate physical distancing.
Facial coverings, physical distancing, sanitation, ventilation and other health protocols continue to be required at all events and businesses.
There are additional guidance documents and requirements for healthcare facilities, weddings and funerals, restaurants and bars, pools, and fitness gatherings.
“I look forward to the day when we put COVID behind us and none of these guidances are needed,” said Dr. Steven Stack, commissioner of the Kentucky Department for Public Health. “The way we get there, though, is for everyone to make the choice to get vaccinated. The vaccines protect you, they keep you safe, and when you look at relative risk reduction, hands down, these are amazing tools to help us get our lives back and get back to the activities we miss.”
In recent weeks, Beshear has said that the state would lift most capacity restrictions once 2.5 million Kentucky residents receive their first dose of the vaccine. The state could hit that number at the end of May or a little later if the vaccination rate remains steady, Beshear suggests.
Beshear says that more than half of Kentuckians ages 18 and up have been at least partially vaccinated. State residents ages 16 and up have been eligible for COVID-19 vaccines since April 5.
“That is a big milestone. It’s one we ought to be excited about,” Beshear says. “But we also know we have a lot further to go.”
As of Monday, about 1.6 million Kentuckians have received at least one dose of the three available COVID-19 vaccines. Kentucky has received more than 2 million first doses through a variety of state and federal programs.
For full effectiveness, Pfizer and Moderna vaccines require two doses several weeks apart, while the Johnson & Johnson vaccine needs only a single dose. Health officials say that vaccines are fully effective beginning about two weeks after the final dose.
While Kentucky’s new capacity thresholds and overall vaccination stats are promising, the Commonwealth continues to see trouble on the coronavirus front.
The number of new people receiving COVID-19 vaccinations had been steadily increasing weekly through March 16, but the weekly number has since plummeted by tens of thousands, according to a chart Beshear shared during the briefing.
Moreover, the low percentage of Kentucky residents under age 59 who have received a COVID-19 vaccine troubles Beshear and state health officials, with only 46% in the 50-59 age group and 38% in the 40-49 bracket getting vaccinated.
The governor says that nearly 50% of the state’s coronavirus cases have been in people ages 20-49. Of those cases, 15.1% have been in 40-49-year-olds, and 33.5% have occurred in the 20-39 age group.
“We need to pick it up for our younger Kentuckians if we want to lessen the number of cases and ultimately defeat this virus,” Beshear said. “Folks, it’s time. We need your help. We need you to do your duty to defeat this virus, and the variants… are coming for this age group more than others.”
“If you haven’t been vaccinated yet, we care about you. We want you to get vaccinated. We want to protect your life and those around you, and we don’t want this virus to use you to develop a strain that can then go get somebody else that’s been vaccinated,” Beshear said. “And I know you don’t want that, too.”
A chart from Beshear also shows that Kenton County, home to Covington, is one of five Kentucky counties reporting 10 or more new cases a day. The state has a 3.46% positivity rate.
Beshear says that the state is committed to fully reopening when it’s safe to do so. Dr. Anthony Fauci, who is the director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the chief medical advisor to President Joe Biden, has estimated that 75%-85% of United States residents must be vaccinated against COVID-19 for the country to reach herd immunity.
“Sure, this (vaccination goal) is meant to incentivize people, but it’s also set at a level of when it’s safe. Because with a virus like this that spreads, when you open up capacity, the virus has a better chance to spread and to aggressively spread unless we have the right amount of people vaccinated, in which case it doesn’t have the opportunity,” Beshear says.
Watch Beshear’s full briefing or learn about Kentucky’s COVID-19 resources.
