Covid-19 update: General Assembly approves bill to allow governor access to funds for personal protective equipment; Chamber of Commerce to hold "what next" webinars next week

As news develops in Kentucky about the coronavirus and its covid-19 disease, this item will be updated. Official state guidance is at https://ift.tt/3bI9w4j.

• The Kentucky General Assembly overrode a vetoed section of the budget bill prohibiting the governor from spending any unbudgeted funds without legislative approval, but added language to a bill that allows any amount of unbudgeted restricted funds to be used for the purchase of personal protective equipment during the covid-19  state of emergency. House Bill 387 has been delivered to the Governor.  
• The Kentucky Chamber of Commerce is hosting two webinars in response to the covid-19 pandemic. The first one, "How Can Business Re-Open and Protect Public Health?"  will be on Tuesday, April 21 at 1 p.m. Click here to register. The second one, "How Does Kentucky's Economy Rebound From Covid-19?" will be on Thursday, April 23 at 2 p.m. Click here to register. 
• UK Now tells the story of how staff and volunteers with the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Services are assembling face shields and sewing masks for the state's health care industry. 
• The Associated Press reports that the federal government is under pressure to publicly track nursing home outbreaks and deaths,"This is basic public health — you track this, you study it, and you learn from it," said David Grabowski, who specializes in healthcare policy at Harvard Medical School. He told the AP that it's difficult to have confidence in officials' ability to contain the virus if they aren't tracking where it has struck and why. 
• On April 14, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will include both confirmed and probable cases and deaths from covid-19, prior to this it was only reporting confirmed cases and deaths. The Washington Post reports that there is great variance between states in how they tally covid-19 case and death, making it difficult to compare one state to another.
• The Washington Post reports that covid-19 is rapidly becoming America's leading cause of death, see graphic. 

The Washington Post' graphic showing causes of death between April 6 and April 12.