By Tom Latek
Kentucky Today
Gov. Andy Beshear announced Sunday he and his family have gone into quarantine at the Governor’s Mansion after a member of his security detail tested positive for the coronavirus.
In a YouTube vide posted Sunday afternoon, Beshear said, “The Beshear family has been committed, since the start of COVID-19, to setting an example, of doing all those things we’re asking Kentuckians to do. One of those is to answer the call. That’s when contact tracers call you because someone around you has tested positive, and ask you to do various things, including to quarantine.”
Gov. Andy Beshear and his family are entering quarantine after a member of his security staff tested positive for COVID-19. (Photo by Tom Latek, Kentucky Today)
The governor said the state trooper drove with the first family on Saturday and learned of a positive test later that day. The first family was not in contact with anyone else following exposure.
“We are doing what those tracers asked us and pothers to do,” Beshear said. “We’re going to be quarantining until the Department for Public Health says we have completed what we need to.”
The governor said his family and the trooper all wore facial coverings, but the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Kentucky Department for Public Health recommend quarantine if an individual is within six feet of a positive person for more than 15 minutes. Quarantine is used to keep someone who might have been exposed to COVID-19 away from others to limit possible spread.
The quarantine includes his wife Britainy and their two children, Will and Lila.
“None of us have tested positive, and we feel great,” Beshear said. “Will and I both got on the treadmill at different times this morning and this afternoon, but we want to make sure we’re setting the example, and that we’re also keeping other people around us safe, that we’re walking the walk, not just talking the talk.”
He pointed out the YouTube video was recorded in an empty part of the Governor’s Mansion, with just he, his son Will by his side, and a camera. “That’s the way I’m going to be doing my 4 p.m. press briefings, at least through this week. Still here, still providing you the information you need, because I told you I was going to be here every day, until we got through this.”
Beshear adds he and his family will continue to be tested regularly for COVID-19, until they are cleared by DPH officials.
