The funds are aimed at increasing COVID-19 testing for health care providers, schools, health departments and correctional facilities. The legislature also passed a measure to appropriate more than $69 million in federal funds for pandemic-related efforts. Republican lawmakers swiftly overrode that veto as well. It was part of a broad measure addressing medical staffing, vaccines, tests and treatments related to COVID-19.īeshear also vetoed mask provisions in that bill. It also ended a separate state mask mandate for child-care centers.Īnother bill winning final passage Thursday night imposed a prolonged ban on any statewide mask mandate, leaving masking decisions up to local governments and businesses.
The school-related bill nullified the state school board’s requirement that anyone in public K-12 schools wear a mask.
The governor responded by calling the legislature into session. The court cleared the way for laws to take effect limiting the governor’s emergency powers to impose virus restrictions. Working late into the night, Republican lawmakers asserted their newfound dominance in shaping Kentucky’s pandemic policies - the result of a state Supreme Court ruling last month. “Our hospital situation has never been more dire in my lifetime than it is right now,” Beshear said.
He noted nearly two-thirds of Kentucky’s hospitals face critical staffing shortages, and more than 300 Kentucky National Guard members will be headed to 21 hospitals to assist health care workers. Beshear warned Thursday that only 90 adult intensive care beds were available statewide. The special session comes as Kentucky’s hospitals struggle with a record influx of virus cases. Republicans branded his actions as overly broad and stringent. Throughout the pandemic, Beshear acted unilaterally in setting statewide virus policies, saying his actions saved lives. The special session marked a power shift in the state’s response to the virus. The governor previously issued statewide mask mandates and recently said he thought another mask order was needed to confront the current surge. Steven Stack, Kentucky’s public health commissioner.Beshear’s veto message referred to masks as a “safe and effective way” to combat the spread of COVID-19. “Our hospitals are at the brink of collapse in many communities,” said Dr. Nearly 70% of the state’s hospitals - 66 of 96 - are reporting critical staffing shortages, the highest number yet during the pandemic, the governor said. “And right now, sadly, we are one of the hottest states in the country.” “Right now, COVID is as bad in Kentucky as it has ever been in this pandemic,” Beshear said. At least 68 virus-related deaths were reported statewide during those three days. The Bluegrass State reported 10,007 coronavirus cases in the past three days, and more than 2,700 of those cases were in school-aged children. Kentucky currently ranks third nationally for the highest number of new daily COVID-19 cases per capita, Beshear said Monday.
"Let’s step up and have the courage to be responsible for them.” “We’re supposed to be responsible for the safety of our children," the governor said. As of Sunday, 25% of the state’s 171 school districts had decided in favor of a school mask mandate, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported. 11 would remain in place as “we work to make the best decisions for the safety of all students, staff and our community.”īeshear urged school boards statewide to “do the right thing" and keep mask mandates in place. She said the districtwide mask mandate in effect since Aug. The Lee County school board is scheduled to discuss mask policy and other virus-mitigation strategies this week, Wasson said. “I can’t put into words how much this hurts.” “He fought hard against COVID but unfortunately it was too much,” Bailey’s son, Austin, said in a social media post. "And then there is one wrong decision, where you endanger children and you allow COVID to spread throughout your community when your hospital is already overburdened.”Ī school custodian in eastern Kentucky died from COVID-19 on Sunday, becoming the second staff member at Lee County Elementary to die from the virus since the school year began.Ĭustodian Bill Bailey died two weeks after an instructional aide at the same school, Heather Antle, also died from the coronavirus, Lee County schools Superintendent Sarah Wasson said. “There is one right answer - where you choose masking, where you protect your kids, where you keep them in school," Beshear said at a Monday news conference. The Democratic governor vetoed the mask-related language, but GOP lawmakers quickly overrode him before ending a three-day special session. Last week, the Republican-dominated legislature scrapped a statewide mask mandate for public schools and imposed a ban on any statewide mask rules until June 2023.
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