Judge blocks Beshear restrictions on day-care centers, raceways; interactive map rates risk based on new cases in last 7 days

Interactive map rates risk on number of new cases in the last seven days. Click on it to enlarge.

Nine Kentucky counties stand out on a new, interactive map that estimates the risk that the coronavirus poses to every U.S. county, based on the number of new cases in the previous seven days.

The counties with "accelerated spread" on Friday were Fayette, Fulton, Gallatin, Jackson, Knox, Laurel, Clay, Shelby, Warren and Butler. Knox had the highest rate of new cases, 24.3 per 100,000 people.

The map, from the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University, is color-coded but interactive, allowing users to see the data behind the colors, which are:

• Green: Less than one case a day per 100,000 people, and containment is on track. Use contact tracing and testing to monitor.
• Yellow: One to nine cases a day per 100,000 people, indicating community spread and the need for rigorous testing and tracing.
• Orange: 10 to 24 cases a day per 100,000 people, showing “accelerated spread,” and stay-at-home orders are advised
• Red: 25 or more a day cases per 100,000, meaning the county is at a “tipping point” and stay-at-home orders are necessary to contain the virus.

A circuit judge in Northern Kentucky issued a statewide injunction Friday barring Gov. Andy Beshear and his administration from enforcing limits on sizes of groups of children at child-care centers.

Judge Richard Bruggemann's order also applied to automobile racetracks such as Florence Speedway, a dirt track that the state allowed to open but without spectators. The judge allowed it to open at half capacity.