7-day average of new virus cases drops again, but ICUs have more patients than ever, and 23 more are dead from Covid-19

Kentucky Health News graph; new-case numbers are unadjusted initial daily reports

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

As Kentucky's seven-day average of new coronavirus cases fell for the fifth day in a row and a vaccine reached all 11 hospitals getting it in the first round, the human impact of the pandemic rages on, with more Kentuckians than ever seriously ill with Covid-19 and 23 more confirmed dead from it.

Gov. Andy Beshear chose to focus on the good news in his daily press release. He held no briefing, as usual for recent Wednesdays.

“This is a very exciting time,” Beshear said. “With these life-saving vaccines being administered right now to our front-line workers, the beginning of the end of the coronavirus crisis is in sight. We are also continuing to see fewer cases week over week, with today’s number down from last Wednesday.”

Beshear reported 2,898 new virus cases, bringing the state's seven-day rolling average down to 3,096. But Covid-19 patients in intensive-care units were more numerous than ever, at 460, with 239 of them on ventilators. Total Covid-19 hospitalizations were 1,793, 17 below the record 1,810 set Dec. 3. 

The share of Kentuckians testing positive for the virus in the past seven days is 8.57%, a number that has changed little for several days.

"This is all great news, but it will take time before these modern medical miracles are available to everyone," Beshear said, referring to the Pfizer Inc. vaccine now in use and the Moderna vaccine that is expected to get approval and arrive next week. But it will be months before either is widely available.

"Until then, we need everyone on Team Kentucky to be patient and vigilant," Beshear said. "Continue to mask up, maintain social distance, avoid unnecessary travel and crowds, and practice proper handwashing."

Today's confirmation of 23 more deaths from Covid-19 brought the state's death toll to 2,262.

The fatalities were an 80-year-old woman and a 67-year-old man from Adair County; a Bell County woman, 61; an Daviess County woman, 81; an Jefferson County man, 81; two Marion County women, 77 and 85; two men, 71 and 86, and woman, 96, from Mason County; a woman, 77, and a man, 67m from McCracken County; two men, 73 and 75, and a woman, 76, from Nelson County; two men, 65 and 72, and woman, 84, from Oldham County; a woman, 95, and a man, 87, from Pulaski County; an Russell County man, 89; a Taylor County man, 81; and a Todd County man, 72.

Mercy Health-Lourdes Hospital in Paducah was the 11th hospital to receive its vaccine shipment. Its president, Michael Yungmann, said in Beshear's release, “While it has been a long year, today is a day for celebration.”

The other recipients of the vaccine include The Medical Center at Bowling Green; Norton Hospital in Louisville; the University of Louisville; Baptist Health hospitals in Corbin, Lexington, Louisville and Madisonville; Pikeville Medical Center; the University of Kentucky; and St. Elizabeth Healthcare-Edgewood.

In other coronavirus news Wednesday:

• Many hospitals in the Ohio Valley are running short of bed space, especially in their intensive care units. Suhail Bhat of Louisville's WFPL breaks down the recently released data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, using interactive graphs and maps, which shows how individual hospitals in each county are doing. 
• Katie Camero of McClatchy Newspapers explores why some experts say prisoners should be next in line to get coronavirus vaccine. As of Dec. 15, the Kentucky Department of Corrections reports that a total of 3,123 inmates and 477 staff have tested positive for the virus and 28 inmates and three staff have died from it. On Dec. 8, Beshear said prison inmates "are not in the top several groups of priority," but corrections officers, as essential workers, will get vaccinated early in hope of limiting prison cases.
• WYMT reports on Covid-19 cases in long-term-care facilities in Eastern Kentucky. 
• Ben Chandler, president of the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky, discussed vaccines with WYMT, which paraphrases him as saying that for vaccines "to have buy-in from the majority of Kentuckians, people need to be inspired by local leaders . . . people like faith leaders, and relatable figures, with diversity at the table." 
• The Rockefeller Foundation proposed that the U.S. spend tens of billions of dollars on testing aimed at fully reopening K-12 schools, Politico reports: "The plan would allocate roughly $8.5 billion a month to test students at least once a week and school staff at least twice a week – an approach that the organization believes would cut down on community spread and allow schools to safely operate." The foundation also suggested executive orders needed to launch the system, but the Trump administration doesn’t agree. The idea that widespread testing is needed to safely reopen schools is “100 percent wrong and is not supported by any CDC recommendations or guidance,” testing czar Brett Giroir said.
• A big takeaway from Vox's interview with  Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, soon coming to the podcast feed "Today, Explained, "is that Fauci thinks 85% of the U.S. needs to get the Covid-19 vaccine for "true herd immunity."
• "Two new studies show that political affiliation had much more influence on Americans' decisions to stay home during the Covid-19 pandemic than did the relative numbers of infections in their communities," reports the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. "Democrats were 13.1% less likely, and Republicans 27.8% more likely, than independents to have social contacts during the pandemic," one study found. Similar results were found by another study, "of young adults originally recruited as ninth-grade students in Los Angeles in 2013 to answer semiannual questions about their health behavior."
• A Kentucky biotech company, Kentucky BioProcessing, says it is developing a coronavirus vaccine that has the potential to be stored at room temperature. The Pfizer vaccine requires ultra-cold storage, and the Moderna vaccine must be refrigerated. A room-temperature vaccine would be more accessible worldwide. The Owensboro-based company announced Wednesday that it plans to begin a Phase I clinical human trial for the vaccine.