LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- As the number of positive COVID-19 cases in Kentucky continue to rise, Gov. Andy Beshear said he will announce further steps to slow the spread of the respiratory disease on Monday.
Speaking from the garden at the Old Governor's Mansion in Frankfort, Kentucky, on Sunday, Beshear said the announcement shouldn't come as a surprise.
"I will not let us become an Alabama, a Florida or an Arizona," he said. "We've got to take proactive steps, and that's what we're trying to do."
The governor said Monday's announcement will include steps he has said would need to be taken if case numbers didn't start going down.
The state on Sunday reported 316 new positive cases of COVID-19, bringing its total number of cases to 27,079, according to a release from Beshear's office. Eight of those cases were from children ages 5 and under.
Four additional virus-related deaths were also reported Sunday: a 37-year-old man and 87-year-old woman from Jefferson County, a 70-year-old woman from Harlan County and a 76-year-old man from Ohio County. To date, 700 Kentuckians have died from the virus.
"I think the steps that we're going to take tomorrow are steps that the White House and other public health experts believe have the maximum impact," Beshear said. "But we've got to get better at every event that we're at."
The governor also said he expects to comment on where he thinks the state stands as far as getting students back in the classroom.
Beshear made the comments after a meeting with Dr. Deborah Birx, response coordinator for the White House Coronavirus Task Force, who paid a visit to Kentucky on Sunday to meet with Beshear, public health commissioner Dr. Steven Stack and other state health and business leaders.
The group met to discuss best practices to slow the spread of the virus and compare what they're seeing in the state as part of a check-in with states across the nation that have been seeing a rise cases in an effort to help "change the current trajectory."
Birx said the first round of visits included New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina, where she said they're seeing "a very significant epidemic right now."
"We have significant concerns about the rising test positivity rate and the rising number of cases," Birx said about states such as Kentucky and Indiana, which she included in "the next set of states" being monitored by the federal government. Other states include Ohio, Tennessee and Virginia. "We can see what is happening in the south, moving north," she added.
"What we have recommended is that 100% of people should be wearing masks, and any indoor public space, frankly, people should be wearing masks as they've been in an area where the virus is significant. If they've gone on vacation and they come back, they should wear a mask," she said. "Indoors, in their homes, if they're in a multi-generational household, in order to protect our seniors optimally."
Birx said there are states, such as Kentucky and Indiana, where they believe bars should be shut down, indoor gatherings should be decreased to less than 10 people and social gatherings should be limited to less than 10 "to really make it possible to control the pandemic before it gets worse."
This "new movement of cases," Birx said, is starting with young people, particularly those under the age of 30, being infected first.
"They go on to infect — unknowingly, most of them are asymptomatic — their parents, who then infect, or they infect, the grandparents who often have significant comorbidities and have a very rocky course," she said.
The current wave of infections the nation is seeing could have been caused by people "being exposed unknowingly while they were out and about," who then took the virus back to their homes and communities, Birx said.
In the first phase, she said, the country saw the epidemic concentrated in large cities and the communities surrounding them, as well as outbreaks in "very specific entities," like nursing homes and meat packing plants where there was congregant living.
What Kentucky is seeing right now, Birx said, is a spread at the household level, which is creating a "call to action" for everyone in the state to wear a mask and avoid large social gatherings.
"There is a way to get this virus under control so that schools can open safely in Kentucky, but it will take all Kentuckians to make that their top priority," she said. "We think it should be a top priority that our students are in school whether it's K-12, community colleges or universities, but it is going to take all of us self-sacrificing to wear masks, to make sure it's not an issue no matter where we are and really work hard to protect people at home."
Because Kentucky has a 5 to 7% coronavirus test positivity rate, Birx said the state has "a real opportunity to get ahead" of a further surge of coronavirus cases.
"Kentucky is in that spot now where, if we don't act, we will look a lot like states in the south that are facing devastating consequences," Beshear said. "Thankfully, today's numbers are lower than what we've seen recently, but we know less testing comes in on Sundays."
Birx reinforced recommendations for the state, including mask requirements, increasing the call for social distancing, closing bars, restricting indoor dining and increasing opportunities for outdoor dining and ensuring that the citizens of Kentucky do not socially gather.
"You can travel if you're super careful, but that means when you're there you're not going to bars and crowded settings and you're not going into large social groups where infection can be spread," Birx said.
Beshear called the conversation with Birx "productive," and said the federal government agrees with the steps the state has taken such as the face mask mandate and reduction of social gatherings to 10 people or less.
The governor said Monday's announcement on further steps is based on "clear guidance" from the White House and public health officials.
For a breakdown of cases in Kentucky by county, click here.
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