Gov. Beshear: COVID cases continue decline; guidance could be simplified by mid-March

FRANKFORT, Ky. (WAVE) - Gov. Beshear said that for a third straight week, COVID cases continue to fall within the commonwealth.

On Saturday, 3,755 additional cases of COVID-19 were reported in the commonwealth, along with 48 additional deaths due to COVID.

Sunday reported 2,270 new cases and 36 additional deaths due to COVID.

Monday’s numbers confirmed 1,907 additional cases and 32 additional deaths due to COVID.

Over the past week, there have been 35,961 total positive cases, dropping from week-to-week for the third straight week.

“That is still the sixth-highest caseload that we have had in the pandemic,” Beshear said. “But certainly the trajectory is exactly what we want to see, steadily, if not quickly dropping.”

The commonwealth is currently at a 17.93 percent positivity rate.

Beshear said with the decline, the commonwealth is expected to leave the “red zone” for many counties around a month from now. When that time comes, the governor said changes in COVID guidance would be expected that would simplify current recommendations.

“Certainly if we are in that better place, our guidance will provide significant more flexibility and recognition of where we are in the pandemic with not only cases and positivity decline, but also omicron being something very different in terms of the level of disease it causes versus previous variants,” Beshear said.

Over the weekend, 4,307 Kentuckians received their first shot of the COVID vaccine. 5,461 additional Kentuckians have been fully vaccinated, and 7,351 Kentuckians boosted over the weekend.

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