Gov. Beshear: New Kentucky COVID-19 Cases Appear to Be Hitting a Plateau After Weeks of Decline

Tuesday, November 16, 2021 at 8:26 AM

By Ky Gov. Andy Beshear

Governor, leading Kentucky health care organizations encourage parents, caregivers to vaccinate children 5 and older

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Monday, Gov. Andy Beshear said new COVID-19 cases in Kentucky appear to be hitting a plateau, after declining for seven weeks in a row.

“The top line here is it does look like we’ve plateaued. That’s not a reason to think that there is another surge,” said Gov. Beshear. “It looks like we have plateaued on the positivity rate at about 5.5%. We are still at a very serious level.”

In Kentucky, children make up 25%-30% of all new COVID-19 cases.

COVID-19 vaccines are safe for this age group. During the Pfizer vaccine clinical trials, there were no serious side effects among any of the study participants. The vaccine was found to be 90.7% effective in preventing symptomatic COVID-19 for this age group.

The following Kentucky organizations have come together to recommend and encourage COVID-19 vaccination for all children age 5 and older: the Kentucky Department for Public Health, the Kentucky Primary Care Association, the Kentucky Medical Association, Kentucky Voices for Health, the Kentucky Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Kentucky Hospital Association, Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky and the Kentucky Nurses Association.

The Governor encouraged parents and caregivers for this age group to talk to their health care provider or pharmacist about scheduling their child’s COVID-19 vaccine as soon as possible.

In addition, all eligible vaccinated Kentucky adults can now get any of the three COVID-19 vaccination boosters: Pfizer, Moderna or Johnson & Johnson. To learn more, see the full release.

COVID-19 Case Information, Vaccinations Update Number of people who have received at least one vaccine dose in Kentucky: 2,611,059

Number of people who have received a vaccination booster in Kentucky: 425,401

Nov. 13, Cases: 1,561 Nov. 13, Deaths: 45 Nov. 14, Cases: 747 Nov. 14, Deaths: 11

New Cases Today: 726 New Deaths: 10 Today’s Positivity Rate: 5.73% Current Hospitalizations: 719 Current Intensive Care Admittances: 191 Currently on Ventilators: 105

During the week ending Nov. 14, 9,506 new COVID-19 cases were reported in Kentucky, and the average test positivity rate was 5.65%.

The Governor said Europe is becoming COVID-19’s epicenter again, accounting for half of the latest infections and deaths, emphasizing the need to stay vigilant as Kentucky’s case numbers plateau.