FRANKFORT, Ky. (Sept. 18, 2020) – Gov. Andy Beshear on Friday updated Kentuckians on the state’s continuing efforts to fight the novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19).
“Our positivity rate has now dropped to 3.6%; that is our lowest rate in months,” said Gov. Beshear. “When we asked for people to push off in-person classes in our schools until Sept. 28, it was so we could get our positivity rate down to a safer level.”
Case Information
As of 4 p.m. Sept. 18, Gov. Beshear said there were at least 60,128 coronavirus cases in Kentucky, 777 of which were newly reported Friday. Ninety-seven of the newly reported cases were from children ages 18 and younger, of which 14 were children ages 5 and under. The youngest was only 2 months old.
“The choices we make are going to determine how many people we lose going forward,” said Gov. Beshear. “There’s still so much work to do, and Kentucky lives are on the line.”
Unfortunately, Gov. Beshear reported eight new deaths Friday, raising the total to 1,101 Kentuckians lost to the virus.
The deaths reported Friday include an 85-year-old man from Bell County; a 96-year-old man from Christian County; a 96-year-old man from Fayette County; a 90-year-old woman from Greenup County; a 53-year-old man from Hopkins County; a 73-year-old woman from Laurel County; a 78-year-old woman from Pulaski County; and a 91-year-old woman from Scott County.
“This is tough news today,” said Gov. Beshear. “It only took 10 days for us to go from 1,000 deaths to over 1,100. This is why we’re working so hard to keep our case numbers down.”
As of Friday, there have been at least 1,115,105 coronavirus tests performed in Kentucky. The positivity rate was 3.60%, and at least 11,168 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.
Week in Review
For more information on this week’s updates, including those on CARES Act Funding for Northern Kentucky, Central Kentucky, Western Kentucky and Eastern Kentucky; Ford’s 2 million mask donation; new guidance on reopening schools; BUILD transportation grants; Childhood Cancer Awareness Month; Opioid Response Funding; new guidance for bars and restaurants; Direct Support Professionals Week; contact tracing; and the First Family highlighting the importance of getting flu shots, visit governor.ky.gov/news.
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 summaries of the Governor’s news conferences at teamkentuckytranslations.com.
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