COVID-19

According to data from the Kentucky Department for Public Health, there’s been a sharp rise in infections during August, with over 4,000 positive COVID-19 tests recorded across the state during August.

Research shows COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective. But Kentucky Senate Republicans falsely suggested they aren’t while promoting a ban on vaccine mandates this week.

Gov. Andy Beshear and other public officials gathered Wednesday to dedicate the monument on the Kentucky Capitol grounds, where it stands in recognition of the lives lost since the pandemic began in early 2020.

Many Tennessee hospitals are in trouble as they try to stabilize after the trauma of COVID-19. The Tennessee Hospital Association has published a new survey that finds: Now that pandemic relief money has dried up, nearly half are at risk of closure.

Donald Lloyd, CEO and president of St. Claire HealthCare in Morehead, has spent more than a year dealing with higher costs for food and medical supplies for his regional hospital. Now he’s trying to prepare for another financial hit — the loss of Medicaid reimbursements for treating people in rural Appalachia.

The Kentucky GOP wants to dig into pandemic-era correspondence received or sent by Beshear and key administration members, looking for any opportunities to inflict damage on education and pandemic management issues that Beshear has championed as governor.

Over 80% of respondents to the statewide poll said it is “not too likely” or “not likely at all” that the COVID-19 virus would keep them from holiday gatherings.

Dr. Suman Shekar specializes in pediatrics and internal medicine at Med Center Health’s primary care facility in Bowling Green. She said she won’t be surprised if southern Kentucky soon sees a big increase in the number of admitted patients suffering from those illnesses.

This week, data from the CDC show all but 17 Kentucky counties in the green, or the lowest level of spread. Only one — Letcher County in eastern Kentucky — was in the red, or highest level.

The leader of a health advocacy group says he’s concerned that most Kentuckians are behaving as if the pandemic has come to an end. The Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky recently surveyed more than 800 residents to gauge their attitudes toward COVID-19.