Gov. Beshear: Kentuckians Must Take Advantage Of COVID-19 Testing

“We’ve got to make sure we continue to use every single step to protect those in these facilities and make sure that we are doing our best every day.”

(Frankfort, Ky.) - On Sunday, Gov. Andy Beshear urged Kentuckians to be ready to fill all available slots as the state undertakes more testing for the novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) than ever before.

“There are still, coming up this week, spots available in our Kroger partnership,” the Governor said. “For this week, Ashland and the entire area around Ashland, you have a bunch more spots you can sign up for. We want to fill every one.”

Gov. Beshear noted that, despite the Ashland area being hit relatively hard by the coronavirus, there were still hundreds of available slots for testing this week.

“Please take advantage of it,” the Governor said. “Local leaders: Please reach out and push people to come and get tested.”

Gov. Beshear also highlighted other testing options around the state. Information about all coronavirus testing options is available at kycovid19.ky.gov.

The Governor and the acting secretary for the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, Eric Friedlander, provided updates on long-term care facilities.

“This is a major area of challenge that we continue to work through and we know that this is where, in Kentucky, COVID-19 devastates us,” Gov. Beshear said. “We’ve got to make sure we continue to use every single step to protect those in these facilities and make sure that we are doing our best every day.”

“I think we’ve been leaders here as we’ve been leaders in so many ways. We were one of the first to shut down visitation,” Friedlander said. “We’ve acknowledged that there are some very specific challenges in long-term care.”

When talking about working with the nursing home alliance, Friedlander said, “I think we’re all on the same page of making sure that we take care of that industry so that industry can take care of folks in their care.”

“Child care is a critical component to this state,” he said while talking about options for centers moving forward. “We’re trying to make sure we won’t lose capacity. When we come back, when we start to open up again that we won’t have lost capacity in child care.”

Case information
As of 5 p.m. May 3, Gov. Beshear said there were at least 5,130 coronavirus cases in Kentucky, 173 of which were newly confirmed Saturday and 80 of which were confirmed Sunday.

Unfortunately, Gov. Beshear also reported five new deaths Saturday, raising the state’s toll to 253 deaths related to the virus. For the first time in weeks, no new deaths were reported Sunday.

“For this Sunday, based on times of reporting, I get to announce zero new deaths,” the Governor said. “Just for one day, even if it’s just the official counts, that feels pretty good to read.”

The deaths on Saturday include two women, ages 81 and 90, from Adair County; a 90-year-old man and a 99-year-old woman from Jefferson County; and a 79-year-old woman from Logan County.

At least 1,892 Kentuckians have recovered from the virus.

For additional information, including up-to-date lists of positive cases and deaths, as well as breakdowns of coronavirus infections by county, race and ethnicity, click here.

More information
Read about other key updates, actions and information from Gov. Beshear and his administration at governor.ky.gov, kycovid19.ky.gov and the Governor’s official social media accounts Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Kentuckians can also access translated COVID-19 information and daily summaries of the Governor’s news conference at tinyurl.com/kygovespanol (Spanish) and tinyurl.com/kygovtranslations (more than 20 additional languages).