Covid-19 update: State tells Kentuckians who have been to Myrtle Beach to self-quarantine, notes rises in cases in other states too

The state Department for Public Health issued an advisory Thursday afternoon to Kentuckians who had traveled in the last two weeks to Myrtle Beach, S.C., which has turned into a coronavirus hotspot.

“DPH advises Kentucky residents who have traveled to Myrtle Beach in the past two weeks to self-quarantine for 14 days and monitor themselves for covid-19 symptoms,” the advisory says, then adds a message from Dr. Steven Stack, commissioner of the agency:

“If you or someone to whom you are close has been to Myrtle Beach in the past two weeks, please be aware that you have a good probability of having been exposed to the novel coronavirus. Please avoid contact with those who are vulnerable, such as the elderly and anyone with significant medical conditions, including diabetes, obesity and heart disease.”

Some other South Carolina beach counties are also hotspots, and the advisory warned, “Exposure to covid-19 is not limited to Myrtle Beach. Multiple states have reported a rise in covid-19 cases, and the guidance should be applied more broadly, including social situations where people gathered in numbers of 10 or greater and in situations where people are not observing recommended precautions, including practicing social distancing and wearing a cloth mask when in public or in groups. Kentuckians should also practice thorough and frequent hand-washing."

In other covid-19 news Thursday:

• The University of Kentucky is adding extract from the medicinal plant Artemisia annua, also known as sweet wormwood, to its innovative clinical trial of covid-19 therapies to test its effectiveness against the coronavirus, following studies in Germany that showed it to be effective, the university reports. The trial will also test artesunate, "a derivative of the plant that is a standard treatment for malaria in many parts of the world," UK's Elizabeth Chapin writes.
  
• UK President Eli Capilouto has made a public service announcement to encourage everyone to follow the suggested guidelines to decrease the spread of the coronavirus, with a focus on why it is important to wear masks. 
• A federal judge has ruled Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear went “too far” in limiting in-person protests at the Capitol during the pandemic, Jack Brammer reports for the Lexington Herald-Leader. District Judge Greg Van Tatenhove said Wednesday that Beshear must amend his mass-gatherings order to allow for in-person protests. Despite the order, several large gatherings have been held outside the Capitol in recent months, at least one of which Beshear attended himself, Brammer notes.
• An updated model by the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation released Wednesday projects that 33,000 American lives would be saved between now and Oct. 1 by near-universal wearing of masks.
• Eleven Kentucky hospitals received $151.8 million to respond to the coronavirus pandemic "because of their focus on providing medical care to all patients regardless of ability to pay," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said. They are UofL Health (Jewish Hospital and Shelbyville Hospital), St. Claire HealthCare in Morehead, Pikeville Medical Center, CHI St. Joseph (Mount Sterling and London), Methodist Health in Henderson, St. Elizabeth Healthcare in Northern Kentucky, Hardin Memorial Health in Elizabethtown, Murray-Calloway County Hospital and Baptist Health Richmond.
• The annual political speaking will not be held at the Aug. 1 Fancy Farm Picnic in far Western Kentucky due to the pandemic. The priest at St. Jerome Catholic Church overruled the picnic committee, which had announced the event would be held with a limited audience in a school gym, the Mayfield Messenger and the Herald-Leader report.
• West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice forced out his top public-health official "hours after he publicly questioned the accuracy of the state’s coronavirus data and detailed growing outbreaks in about a dozen counties" and "vented during a news conference," The Associated Press reports. Dr. Cathy Slemp "was a regular feature of the governor’s daily virus news conferences, at which he "showered Slemp with praise." West Virginia's estimated virus transmission rate has been rising slowly and was at 1.06 Thursday morning, meaning that every 100 infected people in the state would infect 106 others, and so on. Kentucky's was 0.99.