As news develops in Kentucky about the coronavirus and its covid-19 disease, this item will be updated. Official state guidance is at https://kycovid19.ky.gov.
- The Trump administration is planning a testing program for cities and towns that haven't been heavily hit by the virus, as a way of getting information needed to reopen the economy, Bloomberg reports.
- Baptist Health is furloughing employees, cutting executive pay cuts and making other staff changes, citing the coronavirus. While it didn't mention Gov. Andy Beshear's order that stopped elective surgeries, such orders have been cited as the reasons for hospital furloughs in Kentucky and other states. "Furloughs affect regular full-time and part-time employees who don’t support caregivers or aren’t critical to clinical operations related to covid-19, Baptist Health said in the announcement," the Lexington Herald-Leader reports.
- UK HealthCare and Baptist Health have partnered with the Kentucky Blood Center to collect plasma from Kentuckians who have recovered from covid-19 to build up a "plasma bank" that can be used for serious or immediately life-threatening infections, says a UK Now news release. The Food and Drug Administration recently released guidelines to allow this investigative therapy, which could help covid-19 patients recover faster by offering passive immunity from the antibodies in the donated plasma. Click here for the convalescent plasma donor information form.
- The Washington Post tells the story of how the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention traced a Chicago coronavirus outbreak to two family gatherings, and how 16 likely cases and three deaths traced back to one person. The case study, published Wednesday, "is one of the most detailed looks at how covid-19 moves through communities and shows how a single person can set off a chain reaction of infections," writes the Post. Here's a CDC chart about the process, called contact tracing:
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