As of Monday afternoon, the NKY Health Department reported three additional cases of COVID-19 have been identified in Northern Kentucky, for 1,340 total cases. There have been 615 cases in Kenton County, 184 cases in Campbell County, 492 cases in Boone County and 49 cases in Grant County. There have been 69 total deaths related to COVID-19. Eight hundred sixty-six (866) individuals have recovered.
Gov. Andy Beshear said there were 70 new cases Sunday and 120 Monday and a total of two new deaths, bringing the state’s totals to 11,476 cases and 472 deaths. At least 3,359 Kentuckians have recovered.
Racial disparity in health care
Beshear announced the launching of a new effort that aims to provide health care coverage for 100 percent of black and African American people in the Commonwealth.
“This is just the first commitment in making up for the inequality that Dr. King said was one of the most severe: inequality in health care,” said Beshear. “We’re going to be putting dollars behind it, we’re going to have a multifaceted campaign to do it. It is time, especially during COVID-19.”
Department of Criminal Justice Training review
J. Michael Brown, secretary for the Governor’s Executive Cabinet, announced Monday that a council with the Department of Criminal Justice Training’s is reviewing and assessing its curriculum in light of demands for change across the nation.
Brown said the review will look at how current and future police officers are trained, with a plan to develop a proposed eight-hour online training course. The new course will cover several issues, including implicit bias, the use of force, deadly force and firearm deployment.
“Kentucky has one of the highest requirements in the country for officer training, and it has served us very well,” Brown said. “We are committed to providing at least eight hours of in-service training to all of our officers by the end of the calendar year, focused on specific and timely topics.”
Gov. Andy Beshear
As mandated by state statutes, all training materials are governed by the Kentucky Law Enforcement Council to meet the Kentucky Peace Officer Professional Standards. KLEC will review any updated curriculum proposal. DOCJT remains committed to providing officers with tactical best practices, latest technology training and information to protect the diverse communities they serve.
Skilled nursing facilities update
Secretary of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services Eric Friedlander updated Kentuckians on the fight against the novel coronavirus 2019 in skilled nursing facilities.
One hundred twenty-seven out of 285 facilities have at least one COVID-19 positive resident or staff member. And 84.9 percent of Kentucky’s facilities have already been surveyed for COVID-19, compared to the national average of 54.1 percent. Kentucky’s resident case rate is 33.8 out of 1,000 compared with the national average of 62. Kentucky’s resident death rate is 11.8 out of 1,000 compared with the national average of 27.6.
Kentucky’s staff case rate is 20.7 out of 1,000 compared with the national average of 39.5. Kentucky’s staff death rate is 0.02 out of 1,000 compared with the national average of 0.05.
“The Governor was aggressive in shutting down visitation to long-term care facilities quite early in this process,” said Friedlander. “We’ve been strategic for how we test and have helped make sure facilities have a plan. We’ve been able to keep our resident case rate at just over half of the national average and our resident death rate at less than half of the national average. We want our numbers to be better, but when you compare them to the national averages, Kentucky has done a very good job.”
Northern Kentucky: Caring for COVID patient at home
As COVID-19 continues to spread in the community, Northern Kentuckians may find themselves caring for someone with COVID-19 at home. According to District Director of Health, Lynne Saddler, MD, MPH, “If someone in your home has been diagnosed with or has symptoms of COVID-19, do not panic. There are steps you can take to reduce the risk of spread of COVID-19 to yourself and others in your household.”
These steps include:
• Have the sick person stay in one room, away from other people, including yourself, as much as possible. If possible, have them use a separate bathroom.
• If the sick person can’t wear a facemask, you should wear one while in the same room with them. If the sick person needs to be around others (within the home, in a vehicle or at the doctor’s office), they should wear a facemask.
• Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, especially after interacting with the sick person.
• Every day, clean all surfaces that are touched often, like counters, tabletops and doorknobs. Use household cleaning sprays or wipes that kill viruses, and use products according to the label instructions.
• Wash laundry thoroughly.
• Avoid having any unnecessary visitors.
