With less than month before full reopening, Beshear urges more young people to get vaccine

With less than a month to go before virtually all COVID-19 restrictions are lifted across Kentucky, Gov. Andy Beshear announced 285 new cases of the virus on Monday and six more deaths.

Kentucky’s case incidence rate is on a slight three-week decline, said Beshear, adding, “We hope this is a trend but it may just be part of the plateau.”

The statewide positivity rate is 2.78%.

Roughly 54% of the population over the age of 18 in Kentucky has received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine — 1,927,168 people. But vaccination rates continue to be lowest among younger people: 80% of people over the age of 65 are inoculated, compared with 45% of Kentuckians between the ages of 40 and 49, 40% of those ages 30-39, and just 29% of people ages 18-29. Of the new coronavirus cases announced Monday, the incidence rate was highest among children and people between the ages of 20-49.

“People in your age group are getting the virus at a higher rate than other age groups,” Beshear said. “I need more of you to get the vaccine.”

Vaccination rates are highest — between 47% and 57% — in Woodford, Franklin, Fayette, Scott and Campbell counties, and lowest — 18% and under — in Christian, Spencer, Ballard, McCreary and Lewis counties.

Last week, Beshear announced that, on June 11, he would rescind all coronavirus restrictions on businesses, as well as the statewide mask mandate for unvaccinated people. People who are vaccinated don’t have to wait a month to remove their masks in most indoor and outdoor settings.

On the heels of a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week, Beshear confirmed that anyone who is fully inoculated — people who have received two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccine, or the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine — is safe to remove their masks now in most indoor and outdoor settings.

Beshear is waiting another month before he fully revokes those restrictions, he said, to allow adults a last chance to schedule their dose before everyone removes their masks, as well as to provide a cushion of time for teenagers 12-15-years-old to get a shot. That age group just became eligible for the Pfizer vaccine across the country last week, and by Monday, 6,319 adolescents in Kentucky had gotten a dose, Beshear said.

“This gives you time to get fully vaccinated, or on the way to getting fully vaccinated before June 11,” he said. Since March 2020, the state has confirmed a total of 452,821 cases and 6,662 deaths attributable to the virus.

Though the mask mandate will be fully lifted next month, facial coverings will still be required in congregate settings such as nursing homes and correctional facilities — settings especially vulnerable to outbreaks.

To further stem the chance of outbreaks, before vaccinations were available, the state stopped all visitation inside jails and prisons. That was a year ago, and Beshear on Monday said a firm date will be set this week for when visitations can resume from outside friends and family who are fully vaccinated. At least 70% of the population housed in correctional facilities have received a vaccine, the governor said.

“We want to make sure we can open up visitation and still provide that layer of protection,” Beshear said. But, “it is time we move towards it and get a firm date.”