Kentucky has set an alarming new mark in the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
On Sunday, Gov. Andy Beshear announced that the state has confirmed 979 new COVID-19 cases, setting a new high for new daily cases. The new case count far eclipses the previous one-day high mark, which was 625 new cases announced May 5. Of those 625 cases, more than 300 were from a single prison at which all of the prison’s inmate population were tested.
Beshear said Sunday’s new high mark should give Kentuckians pause as the state continues to battle the pandemic.
“This ought to be a wake-up call to everybody,” Beshear said. “Whether it’s the folks out at a baseball field that are all sitting on a bleachers together not wearing masks, or whether it’s those that don’t think that this thing is truly spreading and can harm people. This is a rough day for the Commonwealth.”
Beshear said among the 979 new cases in Kentucky announced Sunday, 30 of those were children under the age of 5.
Beshear also announced three new deaths on Sunday. Those included a 67-year-old woman from Clark County; a 74-year-old woman from Jefferson County; and a 58-year-old man from Oldham County.
The new daily high comes a day after Beshear announced that the state had seen its second-highest daily case increase Saturday, when the governor announced 583 new COVID-19 cases.
“It’s dangerous time, and it can’t be explained away by our increase in tests, 529,481 (total tests administered),” Beshear said Saturday, adding that the positivity rate as of Saturday had increased to 4.66 percent, an increase from 4.19 percent on Friday.
