State reports 536 more coronavirus cases, 3 deaths from covid-19

The state reported 536 more cases of the novel coronavirus in Kentucky on Sunday, a day when case reports are usually low because of limited weekend reporting by testing laboratories.

“Our case numbers often dip during the weekend as not all labs are reporting,” Gov. Andy Beshear said in a press release. “We can expect higher counts during the week, but the real work we have is to get these numbers to begin really going down.”

Noting “some troubling increases” in case numbers in recent weeks, Beshear said, “Let’s remember that we’re not powerless in this fight. We wash our hands often and properly. We can keep our gatherings small and make sure we maintain a safe social distance. We can avoid traveling to hotspots. But most of all, we can wear a mask. It’s the best advice from the nation’s top experts and how we protect those we love during this pandemic.”

Beshear's press release said 87 of the new cases were from Kentuckians 18 and younger. Counties with 10 or more new cases were Jefferson, 117; Fayette, 63; Clay, 19; Daviess, 17; Knox, 15; Barren, 14; Henderson, 14 and Warren, 14 each; Kenton, 13; Boone, Madison 11 and McCracken, 11 each; and Union, 10.

The governor reported three more covid-19 deaths Sunday, raising the state's toll to 1,060: a 96-year-old man from Fayette County, a 76-year-old woman from Taylor County, and a 58-year-old man from Warren County.

“These are three of our fellow Kentuckians we’ve lost, and it hurts just as much for their friends, their families and their communities as any that have come before or will be announced in the future,” Beshear said. “Light up your homes and businesses green tonight to let them know they are not alone in their grief.” 

In other covid-19 news:

• The opening football game for the University of Louisville and Western Kentucky University Saturday night at Cardinal Stadium drew 11,179 fans, under the 12,000 limit, the Courier Journal reports. Recorded crowd noise was added.
• The New York Times reports, "White House and Republican officials struggled to respond to sharp questioning by Sunday morning news-show hosts about why President Trump knowingly played down the coronavirus in the crucial early months of the pandemic, as revealed by the journalist Bob Woodward in his new book, Rage."
• "Politically appointed communications aides have demanded the right to review and seek changes to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s weekly scientific reports charting the progress of the coronavirus pandemic, in what officials characterized as an attempt to intimidate the reports’ authors and water down their communications to health professionals," reports Dan Diamond of Politico. "In some cases, emails from communications aides to CDC Director Robert Redfield and other senior officials openly complained that the agency’s reports would undermine President Donald Trump's optimistic messages about the outbreak." Michael Caputo, a former Trump campaign official who is the chief spokesman for the Department for Health and Human Services, told Diamond, "Our intention is to make sure that evidence, science-based data drives policy through this pandemic—not ulterior deep-state motives in the bowels of CDC."