Gov. Andy Beshear on Thursday updated Kentuckians on the state's continuing efforts to fight COVID-19

Gov. Andy Beshear on Thursday updated Kentuckians on the state’s continuing efforts to fight COVID-19

Posted By: paigemeadows
October 16, 2020 @ 7:55 am
Local News

As of 4 p.m. Oct. 15, Gov. Beshear said there were at least 84,195 COVID-19 cases in Kentucky, 1,260 of which were newly reported Thursday. There were 168 newly reported cases from children up to age 18, of which 29 were children 5 and under. The youngest was only 5 months old.

“We just can’t ignore it. We can’t pretend like it’s not here,” said Gov. Beshear. “We can’t allow the fact that we are inconvenienced make us pretend that the virus isn’t with us and isn’t deadly.”

Unfortunately, Gov. Beshear reported 20 new deaths Thursday, raising the total to 1,296 Kentuckians lost to the virus.

The deaths reported Thursday include an 86-year-old man from Bracken County; a 71-year-old woman from Christian County; four women, ages 82, 88, 92 and 100, from Daviess County; two women, ages 74 and 96, from Greenup County; two women, ages 92 and 97, and a 74-year-old man from Henderson County; two women, ages 49 and 84, and a 64-year-old man from Jefferson County; an 88-year-old woman from Knott County; an 80-year-old man from Pulaski County; a 72-year-old woman from Scott County; an 81-year-old man from Webster County; and an 85-year-old woman and a 73-year-old man from Whitley County.

“Today is a really hard day. The individuals lost today and their families need our help, need our green lights, and need our bells at 10 a.m. every morning,” said Gov. Beshear. “I can’t tell you how painful it is to read 20 entries. We are going to have a lot more days like this if we don’t do better about wearing masks, about social distancing and about following the rules.”

As of Thursday, there have been at least 1,751,264 coronavirus tests performed in Kentucky. The positivity rate was 4.94%, and at least 16,928 Kentuckians have recovered from the virus.

For additional information, including up-to-date lists of positive cases and deaths, as well as breakdowns of coronavirus infections by county, race and ethnicity, click here. To see all recent daily reports, click here.

Information about COVID-19 and schools is also being made available. To view the reports, click here for K-12 and here for colleges and universities.