Beshear presser 5-9-20

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — In light of a federal court ruling that allows Kentucky's houses of worship to gather for in-person services beginning Sunday, Gov. Andy Beshear said the state's health guidelines for reopening churches are effective as of Saturday. 

The guidelines call for houses of worship to "limit attendance to no more than 33% of the building occupancy capacity, including clergy and staff-employees, while maintaining social distance between household units of at least 6 feet," among other safety precautions. To read more of the guidelines, click here. 

Houses of worship were scheduled to reopen for in-person services May 20, but U.S. District Judge Gregory F. Van Tatenhove of Frankfort ruled Friday that Beshear and other state officials are prohibited from "enforcing the prohibition on mass gatherings with respect to any in-person religious service which adheres to applicable social distancing and hygiene guidelines," according to court documents.

Tatenhove granted Tabernacle Baptist Church, of Nicholasville, Kentucky, a temporary restraining order against Beshear's executive order prohibiting mass gatherings, and, at the urging of Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, ruled the injunctive relief granted to Tabernacle Baptist "may extend statewide."

Beshear again defended his executive order, which prohibited mass gatherings of any kind to help curb the spread of COVID-19, during Saturday's briefing on the pandemic. He urged houses of worship that are not prepared to meet the state's guidelines to only resume in-person services when they are ready. 

"I really hope that these rulings don't have some groups going back faster than they should, not doing everything that needs to be doing and causing the spread of this virus," Beshear said. "Since this has started, I've been done with politics. I'm not counting wins and losses; I'm counting ... the number of deaths I have to read every day and I hope that the actions of trying to speed this up by two weeks don't result in more people being lost."

Six more Kentuckians have died after contracting COVID-19, Beshear said, bringing the state's death toll to 304 since the pandemic began. One of the new COVID-19 casualties reported Saturday was a 63-year-old man from Jefferson County. 

Another 158 cases of the respiratory illness have been identified, bringing the state's total to at least 6,440. More than 2,300 of the state's confirmed cases have recovered, Beshear said, but 226 Kentuckians with COVID-19 are in intensive care units as of Saturday afternoon. 

Both Beshear and Dr. Steven Stack, the state's public health commissioner, encouraged Kentuckians to remain vigilant in following guidelines to slow the spread of COVID-19. 

"This is exactly when people start to get complacent, when people start to take for granted that the disease is still out there," Stack said. "... The disease is out there, and, when it hits the people most vulnerable, it's devastating. It's absolutely devastating. ... Even as restrictions are lifted because there are other things that society is demanding of us, ... there has never been a time more important than now for you to do all of the social distancing, to use universal masking when you're anywhere near anyone and for you to follow the guidelines that we're working with industries to put out there to do everything we can to try to help keep people as safe as we possible can."

State health officials have processed at least 86,900 tests as of Saturday afternoon, Beshear said. That's an increase of 28,492 tests from the 58,408 tests processed last weekend, which Beshear announced May 3. Every resident of the state's 286 nursing homes and the people who work in the long-term care facilities will be tested for COVID-19, the governor said Friday.

Beshear will not have a briefing Sunday, Mother's Day. 

Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer took to Twitter on Saturday to announce 39 new positive cases of COVID-19 and two new virus-related deaths in Jefferson County. That brings the total number of cases in the county to 1,631 with 117 deaths. Fischer also announced 42 additional recoveries, bringing the total number of those who have recovered from the virus to 991.

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