Gov. Beshear: ‘We are Breaking Our Record for COVID-19 Hospitalizations Every Day’

Governor announces record positivity rate; health care leaders say vaccinations are ‘No. 1 priority

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FRANKFORT, Ky. (Aug. 26, 2021) – On Thursday during his weekly Team Kentucky update, Gov. Andy Beshear said hospitalizations have increased every day without exception for the past 42 days, from 239 people July 14 to a record 2,074 people Aug. 25. Before the delta variant, Kentucky’s record number of COVID-19 hospitalizations was 1,817 on Dec. 17, 2020.

The Governor highlighted other statistics from July 14: On that day, there were 60 Kentuckians in the ICU for COVID-19; as of yesterday, there were 549. On July 14, there were 25 Kentuckians with COVID-19 on a ventilator; as of yesterday, there were 338. On July 14, the state’s COVID-19 test positivity rate was 3.81%, and it was down to a low of 1.79% June 24; yesterday, it was 13.16%, a record high in the time since the state has had adequate testing supplies.

“My point with all of these numbers is that we are in uncharted territory. We have been fighting this virus for almost 18 months, but we have never been here before,” said Gov. Beshear. “As horrible as last year’s surge was, we were never in the position where doctors worried they’d need to choose between treating a patient who can’t breathe because of COVID or treating a patient who is bleeding out from a car accident. But that is the strain that our hospitals are under now.”

Kentucky health care heroes said vaccinations are the “No. 1 priority right now.”

“Last year was extremely difficult taking care of patients with COVID. I thought after last year that we had seen the worst of it, especially with the introduction of vaccines. Once we all got vaccinated, I thought that a lot of this would go away. Unfortunately, it’s come back, and it’s come back pretty ugly,” said Mohan Rao, MD, general surgeon at Baptist Health Madisonville. “I’m not going to tell you that getting vaccinated is going to keep you from getting sick 100% of the time. What I am going to say to you is that as somebody who believes in individual liberties, which I do, I’m vaccinated. And I did that for the protection of myself, for the protection of my family and for the protection of my patients.”

“The crisis is real. Our patient volumes are higher than they ever have been in any summertime period in the history of our hospital and our health system. We’re working the problem. Our health care heroes are flexing, they’re adapting and they’re improvising, working with each other to increase capacity, increase throughput and at the same time, maintain the top quality of care we are known for,” said Dr. Dennis Beck, interim chief administrative officer at Deaconess Henderson Hospital. “The most important thing is to encourage vaccination. If you know somebody, if you know people at your church or your schools who still haven’t been vaccinated or are hesitant, help them get informed.”

“It is exhausting to see more and more patients come in who are struggling,” said Courtney Fales, registered nurse at St. Elizabeth Healthcare. “We have to work twice as hard. It takes more staff, it takes more bodies to keep these patients stable. It just makes me really want people to get vaccinated because the ones that I see struggling right now are the ones who have not gotten the vaccine.”

“Hospitals are being filled all over the country and I would say most of our patients right now are unvaccinated folks,” said Sean Kathman, registered nurse at St. Elizabeth Healthcare. “Patients who we have had, who have been vaccinated, they have been admitted for maybe a day just for observation and have been discharged in a day or two – not nearly as sick as the folks who are unvaccinated. Vaccinations are our No. 1 priority right now.”

“The decision on broader masking, on masking throughout the commonwealth, is now one that’s going to be left to the legislature. But yesterday, having the third highest number of cases we’ve ever had and having 65 people die, that would’ve been the trigger for me,” added Gov. Beshear. “If it was in my authority to put in a masking order for indoors across the state, every other time we’ve been this high, we’ve done that, and it’s worked. It has decreased the number of cases. I can’t do that now, and I get that, and I’ll provide all of the information I can to the General Assembly. Hopefully they will make the best decision they can. But I am begging you out there, put on that mask. We desperately need for you to do it again.”

New COVID-19 Community Testing Sites
The Governor announced four new testing locations across Kentucky:

Gravity Diagnostics
7 a.m. to 12 p.m. EDT
Beginning Friday, Aug. 27
Drive-through testing available daily, no appointments required

• Danville, 224 Southtown Drive, Danville, KY 40422

Wild Health and UK Healthcare
8 a.m. to 3 p.m. EDT
Beginning Friday, Aug. 27
PCR testing only; next day results via email; walk-up appointments accepted

• Corbin, Baptist Health Corbin, WildHealthTesting.com/Corbin
• Morehead, St. Claire Healthcare, WildHealthTesting.com/StClaire
• Pikeville, Pikeville Medical Center, WildHealthTesting.com/Pikeville

The Governor said that North Carolina State University modeling results showed that without masks or regular testing, up to 90% of susceptible students may become infected by the end of the semester. The study demonstrated that, when used in combination, masks and testing can prevent 80% of new infections, an especially important finding for schools with children younger than 12 who cannot be vaccinated yet.

COVID-19 Update

Aug. 25, 2021, COVID-19 Case Information (Most Recent Data Available)
Cases: 4,849
Deaths: 65
Hospitalizations: 2,074
ICU Census: 549
On Ventilators: 338
Positivity Rate: 13.16%

From March 1 to Aug. 18, 2021, 85.3% of COVID-19 cases, 90.3% of COVID-19 hospitalizations and 87.4% of COVID-19 deaths were among partially vaccinated or unvaccinated Kentuckians.

As of today, 2,488,328 Kentuckians have received at least their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine; 6,674 have been vaccinated over the past 24 hours.