Ky. governor mandates masks in all schools
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear signed a mask mandate into effect on Tuesday, requiring all schools state
wide to require masks on all staff and students.
Dozens of Kentucky’s school districts started school Wednesday morning
Beshear also highlighted that Kentucky is in the midst of one of the fastest surges of COVID-19 cases yet, and on Monday he announced 1,301 new COVID-19 cases, and the total number of cases in the state hit 500,267.
And as all states across the country are ravaged by the new delta variant, children — especially those unable to receive the vaccine — have seen an increase in hospi- talizations.
COVID-19 is “hitting kids in a way that we haven’t seen before,” Beshear said.
Norton Children’s Hospital in Louisville has seen an uptick in children admissions in the last week alone. On Tuesday, the hospi- tal recorded 10 pediatric patients with COVID-19, four in intensive care and two on ventilators.
“The vast majority of patients that are requir- ing hospitalization are those unvaccinated patients,”
said Charlotte Ipsan, chief administrative office for Norton Women’s and Children’s Hospital. “We con- tinue to stress that vaccination continues to be our number one fight against hospitalization, against this COVID rate.”
“Kids are not immortal,” Kentucky Children’s Hospital Physician in Chief Dr. Scottie Day said. “It should be rare that a child would need to go to the hospital.”
According to the (Louis- ville) Courier Journal, several school districts disregarded the governor’s pushes for all school districts to require masks, wishing to leave the
decision up to the students’ parents.
“I’m going to have the courage to do what I know is right to protect our children,” Beshear said Tuesday.
Multiple school districts had implemented their own mandates prior to the governor’s announcement. In Warren County, Superintendent Rob Clayton announced on Monday night masks would be required after roughly 700 students and staff went into quarantine less than a week before the school year was to begin.
Beshear stated on Tuesday that “without intervention,” the state of Kentucky is on track to see its high- est number of hospitalizations in the entire pandemic in two weeks, reported the Courier Journal.
“We are at an alarming place,” Beshear said.