FRANKFORT, Ky. (LEX 18) — Governor Andy Beshear announced in his Friday press conference that there are 322 new COVID-19 cases and 9 new coronavirus-related deaths in the state of Kentucky.
The state has now reported 3,779 total COVID-19 cases and 200 total deaths.
Of the 3,779 total cases, there have been 1,341 recoveries.
Governor Beshear announced there will be 11 drive-thru testing sites in the commonwealth next week. There is also a new testing partnership with Walmart in Louisville, KY beginning April 29th.
The other sites will be located in Lexington, Bowling Green, Owensboro, Cadiz, Hopkinsville, Hazard, Mt. Vernon, and Murray, beginning Monday, April 27th.
Testing locations that are available to anyone (Kroger sites) are completely booked in Lexington and Bowling Green, but testing will be done the following week as well.
Another topic of discussion was the Kentucky Primary Election agreement that was announced early Friday. More on that here.
Unemployment was also discussed on Friday.
"Nationally, we are ahead of the curve," said Josh Benton, deputy secretary. "That does not diminish the issues that we do have and the struggles that we're having on getting payments out to those who haven't received them yet.
"We have been working over the last week and a half to try an identify those claims," Benton added. "We feel like we're really close to cleaning those things up and are hopeful that next week we're going to be able to provide really good news to those individuals who have been waiting far too long."
Since March 16th, the state has processed over 550,000 claims, and since that time, the state is approaching $1 billion in unemployment insurance payments.
352 people in county jails that are near the end of their sentence and at risk of attracting COVID-19 will be released. Each inmate must have a proof of residency to self quarantine for 14 days.
*More updates following the briefing.
