FRANKFORT, Ky. — Gov. Andy Beshear on Thursday updated Kentuckians on the commonwealth’s ongoing efforts to fight the novel coronavirus 2019.
“I’m proud of Kentuckians for the big sacrifices we’ve made to protect each other and also the small inconveniences that we’ve accepted to keep one another safe and to revive our economy,” said Gov. Beshear. “By wearing a mask, staying six feet apart, getting tested and cooperating with contact tracers, we make sure that the lives we’ve lost and the experiences we’ve missed were not in vain.”
Case Information
As of 4 p.m. June 25, Gov. Beshear said there were at least 14,617 coronavirus cases in Kentucky, 280 of which were newly reported Thursday.
Unfortunately, Gov. Beshear reported eight new deaths Thursday, raising the total to 546 Kentuckians lost to the virus.
“Each of these deaths is more than an age, a gender and a county,” said Gov. Beshear. “Each of these souls was a mother or father, or a sister or brother, or a friend, a daughter, a husband, the list goes on. They were each special to so many other people, whose names we may never know, but whose pain right now is extraordinary.”
The deaths reported Thursday were a 69-year-old man from Christian County; a 63-year-old man from Fayette County; an 89-year-old woman and an 86-year-old man from Jefferson County; 84-, 90- and 93-year-old women from Shelby County; and an 81-year-old woman from Warren.
As of Thursday, there have been at least 375,636 coronavirus tests performed in Kentucky. At least 3,719 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.
Long-Term Care Visitation Update
Today, Cabinet for Health and Family Services Secretary Eric Friedlander announced that starting Monday, June 29, the state will resume visitation at assisted living and personal care homes, group activities (10 or fewer) in facilities, communal dining and off-site appointments.
“Kentuckians have patiently awaited since March 6 for the opportunity to see loved ones in long-term care facilities again – in person. We are pleased to say that plans are in place to ease back into certain activities,” said Secretary Friedlander, adding that resuming visitation and certain other activities will proceed without taking an eye off the threat that remains with COVID-19.
Starting July 15, visitation will resume in nursing homes and in Intermediate Care Facilities for Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities (ICF-IIDs).
School Opening Guidance
Gov. Beshear, Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman and Kevin Brown, interim commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Education, on Wednesday released long-awaited initial guidance for Kentucky schools looking ahead to opening this coming autumn. For more information, click here.
Testing Expansion
Gov. Beshear reminded Kentuckians to take advantage of the state’s partnership with Kroger, which has brought free drive-through testing across the commonwealth. Information on how to register at more than 200 sites throughout the commonwealth can be found here.
More Information
Read about other key updates, actions and information from Gov. Beshear and his administration at governor.ky.gov, kycovid19.ky.gov and the Governor’s official social media accounts Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
Kentuckians can also access translated COVID-19 information and daily summaries of the Governor’s news conference at tinyurl.com/kygovespanol (Spanish) and tinyurl.com/kygovtranslations (more than 20 additional languages).