Beshear dismisses legislators' complaints about not consulting with them on pandemic, says 'A phone works both ways'

State health department graph, adapted by Kentucky Health News; to enlarge it, click on it.

By Melissa Patrick

Kentucky Health News

Faced with a sheaf of potential laws that are likely to limit his emergency powers in the coronavirus pandemic, Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear dismissed complaints of the Republican-controlled legislature and reiterated his plan for vetoes and court action if they are overridden as expected.

Beshear said he would veto any bill "that I think will hamper our ability to effectively fight this virus," and "Any bill that we believe unconstitutionally removes emergency powers that are absolutely necessary to fight a pandemic like this, we will challenge in court."

The General Assembly's Republican supermajorities passed six of their primary bills during rare Saturday meetings, four of them aimed at limiting Beshear's powers and two to further regulate abortion. Beshear is expected to veto them and to be overridden. 

One of Republican lawmakers' ongoing complaints is Beshear's lack of consultation with them regarding the pandemic. Asked if he regretted that, Beshear again pointed to the 40 times and 30 hours that he says members of his administration have testified before legislative committees about the virus, adding that sometimes there were "fairly hostile attitudes or questions." 

"Obviously, we were working every day, all day in the midst of a crisis and a phone works both ways," he said. "We granted, I think, every meeting that was requested from us. We did not provide Stack in a room without somebody else from the administration, but that's just normal practice." Republican legislative leaders had asked for a private meeting with Health Commissioner Steven Stack.

Beshear continued, "In the midst of a pandemic, the concept that you don't call and meet with me enough, and therefore we're going to remove rules that are keeping people alive, I just don't think we ought to spend a lot of time talking about that, because we all ought to be able to put our egos aside and just do the right thing for our people during this period of time." 

Beshear spoke at some length about some of the bills, primarily House Bill 1, which would allow businesses to follow rules set by Beshear or guidelines of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, whichever is least stringent.

He shared a letter dated Jan. 11 sent by CDC Director Robert Redfield, cautioning that the CDC's recommendations are not meant to be interpreted as law. He also shared slides regarding CDC guidance around restaurants, bars, schools and gyms that supports the state's guidance.

Further, he warned Republican lawmakers to be careful what they ask for, since the CDC's entire focus is on public health, without consideration to the economy.  "I believe we strike the right balance," he said, referring to the state's existing guidance on reopening schools and businesses.

Last week, as Kentucky's recorded the most new coronavirus cases ever, Beshear said it's not the time to limit his emergency powers. Measures of the pandemic slacked a bit on Monday, as they often do immediately after weekends, but he expressed concern after noting that the percentage of Kentuckians testing positive for the virus in the past seven days is 12.35%, down slightly from yesterday's rate of 12.45%, the highest since testing became widely available in early May. 

"Now is when it is at its most serious and where we will lose the most people if we are not incredibly careful," Beshear said. "This ought to be another wake-up call, it ought to be a bright red warning light that tells us that we all got to protect ourselves, we've got to wear those masks, we've got to do everything almost perfectly under the guidance and the state rules to ensure that this thing doesn't get any further out of hand." 

Asked if he was considering any new restrictions, Beshear said, "We haven’t had those discussions yet."

Kentucky Department for Public Health graph, adapted by Ky. Health News; click on it to enlarge.

The numbers: Beshear reported 2,085 new cases Monday and he hopes the surge comes from holiday gatherings and will subside, but he said it could be "a lasting increase that builds on itself" and could stem from more contagious strains of the virus, one of which was just recently identified in Indiana. 

Monday's new-case number was 234 fewer than last Monday's. The seven-day rolling average for new cases is 3,820, down slightly from yesterday when it was 3,854, which set a new record. 

All but one of the state's 120 counties, Hickman County, is in the "red zone," which means they have had at least 25 new daily cases of the virus per 100,000 residents in the last seven days. The state rate is 80.57.

Kentucky hospitals reported 1,708 Covid-19 patients, 381 of them in intensive care and 207 of those on ventilators. Beshear said three Kentucky hospital readiness regions had more than 80% of their intensive-care beds occupied: the easternmost region, at 80.9%; Barren River, at 87%; and Lake Cumberland, at 91.1%.

Kentucky Department for Public Health map; to enlarge it, click on it.

Beshear said Kentucky still has adequate hospital capacity statewide, but it's important to understand the urgency of the situation. 

"We still have room especially if we use the other ICU beds in other regions," he said. However, he said Kentuckians still need to understand the urgency of this situation so that the state does not end up like California, where ambulances are not taking taking patients to the hospitals that they think won't survive because there aren't enough beds available. 

Other topics: Beshear also spent a fair amount of time objecting to the attack on the U.S. Capitol and Saturday's rally outside the state Capitol, which included a "self-proclaimed militia" with armed protesters, one with zip-ties who has been reported as saying he had them "just in case." They can be used as handcuffs.

Beshear said the state would "do whatever necessary" to ensure the safety of the state Capitol, but would not disclose any specific plans. "We will not allow what happened at the U.S. Capitol to happen here," he said. 

He noted that Stack's mailbox was vandalized Sunday when someone spray-pained the words "Covid is PCR fraud" on it. PCR stands for polymerase chain reaction, which is the gold-standard test for the virus.

"To the cowards out there who did it, we're working to find you. It is not acceptable. This is not how we act in our society and in a democracy," said Beshear. 

He said that isn't about the vandalism, but about deterring bullies who try to create terror by saying: "We know where you live, we know how to get to you. . . . Trying to create fear in his family is the lowest form of low."

Sara Jo Best, president of the Kentucky Health Departments Association, told Deborah Yetter of the Louisville Courier Journal that nearly all of the state's health departments have encountered some hostile reactions as they work to notify people about pandemic restrictions.

"I think probably every one of us has a story to tell at this point," said Best, who is director of the Lincoln Trail District Health Department, based in Elizabethtown.

Deaths: Beshear announced 21 more deaths from Covid-19, bringing the state's death toll to 2,922. He said only five were in long-term care facilities. 

Beshear honored the life of Simone Parker, 46, who died from Covid-19 earlier this month. He said she had taught at Trigg County High School in Cadiz for 19 years and was described by everyone who knew her as an "extraordinary educator." 

Beshear said Parker was hospitalized the Monday before Christmas, intubated and sedated, and couldn't speak. William, her husband, told Beshear that the hardest part was not being able to truly say goodbye to his wife of 23 years

 "Today we lift William and the rest of Simone’s family and community in prayer, including her students, colleagues and friends who she cared for," said Beshear. 

In other coronavirus news Monday:

• The latest confirmed or probable Covid-19 deaths were an Adair County man, 76; two Allen County women, 67,71; a Boone County woman, 73; a Christian County man, 81; a Cumberland County man, 81; a Fleming County man, 76; a man and woman from Graves County, 82 and 88 respectively; two women from Hardin County, 68,87; a Hopkins County man, 86; a Meade County man, 88; three men from Nelson County, 57,68,69; a Pulaski County woman, 86; two Pulaski County men, 74,78; a Russell County man, 83; and a Taylor County woman, 68. 
• Beshear announced a new case at the state veterans nursing home in Radcliff, and said there had been another Covid-19-related death at the facility. 
• Counties with 10 or more new cases were Jefferson, 358; Fayette, 183; Kenton,79; Boone, 77; Madison, Morgan and Warren, 68; Henderson, 58; Bullitt, 57; Campbell, 47; Graves, 46; Boyd, 35; Boyle, 31; Daviess, 29; Shelby, 28; Scott, 27; Clinton, 25; Barren and McCracken, 23; Carter, 22; Casey and Pike, 20; Caldwell and Laurel, 19; Wayne, 18; Jessamine, Marshall, Oldham and Taylor, 17; Estill, Greenup and Whitley, 16; Bath, Crittenden and Perry, 15; Harrison, Mercer, Nelson and Pulaski, 14; Butler, Calloway and McCreary, 13; Grayson, Hardi, Marion and Rowan, 12; Letcher and Montgomery, 11; Allen, Grant, Knox, Russell and Trigg, 10.    
• As Kentucky schools begin to reopen to in-person classes, the K-12 School Covid-19 Self-Reported Dashboard shows that in the week ending January 8,, 1,674 students and 1,062 staff tested positive for the virus and 3,212 students and 774 staff were quarantined. 
• In long-term care, 121 new residents and 132 new staff have tested positive for the virus and 23 new deaths have been attributed to Covid-19, bringing the total deaths up to 1,976.  
• The Food and Drug Administration warned health-care providers that a mutant strain of the virus may make it escape testing, creating false negative results. "The FDA is taking additional actions to ensure authorized tests remain accurate by working with test developers and conducting ongoing data analysis to evaluate all currently authorized molecular tests," the agency said. "The FDA believes the risk that these mutations will impact overall testing accuracy is low."
• Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Kentucky got $297.5 million for coronavirus testing and vaccine distribution from the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act that Congress passed in December. Most of the money was for testing, contact tracing, and other pandemic-fighting measures; $40.4 million was earmarked for vaccine distribution.