FRANKFORT, Ky. (LEX 18) — Gov. Andy Beshear announced that starting Friday, bars and restaurants in Kentucky can serve until midnight while doors must close by 1 a.m.
Capacity for bars and restaurants will remain at 60% for the time being.
"We cannot have people crowding around bars or in restaurants around bars," Gov. Beshear said. "We do have to keep people separated, we do have to keep people wearing masks. The mask mandate is still in effect. But hopefully, this is a little bit of relief given the positive movement of where we are right now as a state with vaccines going up and cases going down."
The governor also announced Kentucky's filing deadline for 2020 federal income taxes will be extended to Monday, May 17.
COVID-19 update
Gov. Beshear announced that 785 new cases of COVID-19 were reported in Kentuck on Thursday. After the removal of duplicates, the 785 new cases brings Kentucky's COVID-19 case total to 419,149.
The positivity rate in continue continues to decline. Thursday's postivity rate was just 3.23%, the lowest since July 3rd.
Gov. Beshear also announced 31 new coronavirus-related deaths. After an audit, 417 additional coronavirus-related deaths have been added to Kentucky's COVID-19 death total which is now at 5,504.
"Our commitment is to know the full devastation of this virus," Gov. Beshear said. "This won't be the last audit that we do and it won't be the last time we discover additional people who have passed away."
Specific numbers for Kentuckians hospitalized, in the ICU and on a ventilator were not given, but Gov. Beshear said those numbers are relatively stable. At least 48,964 Kentuckians have recovered from COVID-19.
