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Kentucky’s COVID numbers continue their plunge to lowest in 11 weeks as surge recedes

On Monday, Kentucky announced its lowest COVID-19 numbers in 11 weeks as new infections (544), hospitalizations (919) and the state’s positivity rate (5.84 percent) all continued their plunge from the pandemic’s most recent surge.

However, there were still 81 statewide COVID-related deaths to report from Saturday through Monday, with some victims as young as their 30s, Gov. Andy Beshear said at a Capitol news conference.

“Remember, the Delta variant is not just sickening young people, it is killing them,” Beshear said. “So you need to get your vaccine.”

Kentucky’s late summer COVID surge hit its climax in mid-September, according to the data Beshear presented. Although the numbers continue to improve, they’re still not as good as they were earlier in the summer, when the coronavirus appeared to be in retreat, he said.

“We still have a ways to go to get where we were in our better times during the course of this pandemic,” Beshear said.

Sixty-two percent of the state’s population has received at least one dose of the vaccine so far.

Of the 316,551 COVID infections reported in Kentucky from March 1 to Oct. 20, only 15 percent occurred in people who were fully vaccinated, Beshear said. Of 9,814 COVID-related hospitalizations during this period, 8 percent happened to fully vaccinated Kentuckians, and of 491 COVID-related deaths, it was 17 percent, he said.

Certain groups are now urged to get a booster shot to strengthen their protection, Beshear said, including those age 65 and older, people with underlying health conditions and those with jobs that expose them to many others.

In other news Monday, Beshear said Republican legislative leaders have rejected his offer to join a work group that would try to reach consensus on using $400 million in federal funds next year to give bonuses to front-line essential workers who have been employed throughout the coronavirus pandemic.

Instead, GOP leaders in the state House and Senate sent a letter Friday instructing the governor to work through the legislative committee process, Beshear said. The General Assembly is supposed to write the next two-year state budget this winter.

“It’s certainly something I wish they would have been willing to do,” Beshear said. “We are still going to move forward. I believe strongly that our people who have worked almost two years through this pandemic deserve appreciation, deserve encourage, deserve an atta’boy and an atta’girl.”