Beshear says he's working on restaurant rules and limited child-care options for next phase of reopening, in June

Infection charts that Gov. Andy Beshear has used to illustrate the risk of reopening child-care centers

As news develops about the coronavirus and its covid-19 disease, this item may be updated. Official state guidance is at kycovid19.ky.gov.

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

Gov. Andy Beshear hit on a range of topics that included efforts to allow some child care in the next phase of reopening the economy, an adjusted out-of-state travel ban, and his drumbeat that relaxation of restrictions to fight the coronavirus doesn't mean that you shouldn't still strive to be "healthy at home."

"It is very important that as we talk about healthy-at-work and more opportunity, that we realize that we still need to keep our contacts as low as possible and the more that we are going to work and seeing other people there, the more we need to just come home afterwards," Beshear said at his daily briefing.

One of the greatest challenges for many who are being asked to go back to work is what to do with their children, since day-care centers are not be allowed to open in the first major phase of re-opening that begins Monday. Last week, Beshear showed charts to illustrate how reopening them would greatly increase the number of contacts each person would have, greatly increasing the risk of spreading of the virus.

Beshear said yesterday that unemployed people who can't find lack of child care won't be required to follow an employer's call to return to work.

Asked if summer camps, which are often used for child care, would be allowed to open in June, he they could not, but optimistically said maybe they could later in the summer, depending on how the virus goes.

"What we are working on in June, right now, is trying to find a child-care option that works," he said. "I can tell you looking over at other states, most of them are either where we are, only for essential workers, or have been able to open up to a very limited amount of kids and so we are working on that possibility right now."

He said they are still working on some form of basic childcare to be possible in phase II of the reopening, and said an announcement was planned for Friday. Phase II will also include the reopening of restaurants, gyms, and movies, and "we're trying to find a childcare option."

Yesterday, a federal court ruled that Beshear's ban on out-of-state travel was not legal and today he said he had issued a new executive order that  mimics Ohio's ban, which the court said was legal.

The new order continues to ban anyone with a positive or preemptively positive case of covid-19 from entering Kentucky, except as ordered for medical treatment. It also keeps in place requirements of social distancing on public transportation and those traveling from out of state into Kentucky and staying are being asked to self-quarantine for 14 days.

 “Basically, the court said, ‘We think Ohio’s is fine. We think yours should be more like Ohio’s,’” the Governor said. “So we’ve issued one today that’s exactly like Ohio’s. That’s what the court says will work, that’s what we’ll do.”

Health Commissioner Dr. Steven Stack noted that phase II for health care has started, which means that  outpatient and ambulatory surgeries and invasive procedures are now allowed as long as the facilities are able to follow the strict guidelines.

Stack also stressed that just because Kentucky was beginning to relax some requirements, that does not mean it is safe for those highest at risk, including those who are over the age of 60.

"All the statistics we have show that for people who are over 60, this is a bad disease and you are at highest risk. If you are in a vulnerable category, over 60 or have major medical problems, you have pay particular attention to following all of these requirements because as people begin to engage a bit more in society, as we try to find ways to relax restrictions, you have to take special safeguards to keep yourself safe. So please continue to follow the guidance," he said.

The Lexingon Herald-Leader reports that as of May 5, around 28 percent of people older than 80 who have contracted the virus have died from it. For people in their 70s, that number is around 13 percent and for people in their 60s that number is around 7 percent.

In other covid-19 news Wednesday:

• Gov. Andy Beshear announced 159 new cases of the virus today, for a total of  5,934 cases. He said again that  he believed the state's numbers have plateaued. He said 351 covid-19  patients were in the hospital; 190 of them in the ICU and that at least 2125 Kentuckians had recovered from the virus. Click here for a  daily summary that includes cases, deaths, race and ethnicity break-down and county data. 
• Counties with more than ten new cases include: Jefferson, Warren, and Kenton. 
• He also announced that eight more Kentuckians had died from the virus, bringing that total up to 283. They include: two women, ages 88 and 95, from Jackson County; a 72-year-old woman from Jefferson County; two women, ages 85 and 99, from Kenton County; two women, ages 57 and 63, from Muhlenberg County; and a 73-year-old from Russell County. 
• There have been 14 new residents and 16 new staff members test positive in the state's long-term care facilities, for a total of 842 positive residents and 347 positive staff. Beshear announced that there have been eight new deaths, for a total of 158 resident deaths and two staff deaths, in 78 facilities. That is 56 % of  the state's deaths. 
• Testing capacity continues to increase in the state. Today, Beshear announced that 17,590 new test have been completed, after finding an error in how the number of new tests were being reorted. In all, he said 78,603 test have been completed, which is nearly 2% of the state's population.  “The White House says we have to be able to test 2 percent of our population every month and we’re ramping up to be able to hit almost three, but only if people sign up to get tested,” he said. Click here for a list of covid-19 drive-thru testing locations. 
• He said next week's Kroger locations will be in Louisville, Lexington, Elizabethtown and Corbin, with more than 400 slots available each day. "Let's not have any more no-shows," he said. "Let's get everyone tested." 
• Beshear encouraged Kentuckians to register to vote, noting that the last day to do so was May 26 for the June 23 primary election. He also reminded Kentuckians that everyone would be able to vote by mail for this election and that a portal would soon be available to make the request to do so. In addition, he said the national guard had offered to act as poll workers, since most of those who regularly volunteer to do this fall into the vulnerable age group for the coronavirus.  
• The Lexington Fayette County Health Department is recommending that anyone who has worked at Lexington's federal medical centers since April 20th be tested for covid-19 because they may have been potentially exposed during an outbreak at the facility, Stack said. 
• The University of Kentucky's Markey Cancer Center, College of Medicine and College of Pharmacy is launching a clinical trial for experimental therapies to treat patients with covid-19. The trial will investigate three drugs that could inhibit replication of the coronavirus; either as stand-alone therapies or in combination with the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine, Elizabeth Chapin reports for UK Now. 
• It is reserved for patients who have tested positive for covid-19, or who have covid-19 symptoms but have not developed severe symptoms that would require progression to ICU care. Patients must also have at least one high-risk feature, including hypertension, diabetes, cancer, lung disease, have an underlying heart condition, or be over the age of 50.
•  Researchers began taking patients the first week of May and plan to enroll 240 patients in all. Volunteers for the study must be over 18 years old, have at least one high-risk feature listed above and have tested positive for covid-19 in the last seven days. They must also have the ability to return to UK HealthCare for repeated testing and observation. 
•  “The goal is to prevent patients from getting severe cases of the disease that would require hospitalization or put them in the ICU or on a ventilator,” said Dr. Zachary Porterfield, an infectious disease expert, virologist and assistant professor of medicine at UK. “No proven therapies have been demonstrated to prevent progression of COVID-19 to severe illness. This is a critical unmet need for high-risk individuals that would also reduce the strain on our health care system.” Porterfield is co-leading the study with Dr. Susanne Arnold, a medical oncologist and associate director of clinical translation at the UK Markey Cancer Center.  
• "Covid-19 and a delayed income-tax filing deadline are walloping the Kentucky budget," Jack Brammer reports for the Lexington Herald-Leader. State Budget Director John Hicks said in a news release that April revenue receipts for the state's General Fund dropped 33.6 percent, or $432.9 million, compared to April last year and April's Road Fund receipts dropped by 30%, or $43.9 million. 
• Jeremy Chisenhall reports for the Herald-Leader about the role of 9-1-1 operators during the coronavirus pandemic. “They call, and they’re like, ‘Oh my God, I think I might have it’,” Jennifer Begley, who has been on the job for 22 years, said of patients. “And you’re like, ‘Well, hold on a second. We’ll get you some help.’”
• Bailey Loosemore reports in detail for the Louisville Courier Journal about the challenges around covid-19 testing in nursing homes. It is up to individual facilities to decide if they should test everyone, and while Beshear has said he would like all of the residents tested and testing has greatly increased, facilities "still cannot get enough tests or supplies." She also notes the high cost of tests. 
• The Midway City Council has voted to send each of the city's 755 water customers $50 in vouchers that can be redeemed at local businesses as a way to stimulate the local economy, the Midway Messenger reports. The money comes from $40,000 that the city had budged for interest payments on the Midway station industrial and commercial park, which it ended up not having to pay. The mayor said he didn't know of any other Kentucky city doing this.