Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) recommended on Monday that schools postpone staff classes until Sept. 28.
Beshear published his recommendation for K-12 schools during a press release, citing an overall increasing number of cases in the past five or six weeks and an increasing infection rate among children in the state. The mayor preferred to mandate the delay in an executive order.
The governor of Kentucky acknowledged this in a statement that the state “has taken good steps” but maintains “we have no control over the virus.”
“We have no control over this virus,” he said. “And sending tens of thousands of our children back to classes in person if we have no control over this virus, it’s not the right thing to do for these children, it’s not the right thing to do for their faculty and it’s not the good thing to do as governor. ”
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– Governor Andy Beshear (@GovAndyBeshear) August 10, 2020
The governor also pointed to coronavirus “peaks” in Georgia and Indiana, as schools have returned in recent weeks and to Kentucky families who go on vacation in states such as South Carolina and Florida, where daily numbers of cases remained high.
“At my very core, I want us to return to instruction for individuals, but to ask our children to engage with all of our teachers and faculty at a time that is not safe, it’s something we can not ask of them. , and I’m not ready, “Beshear said during the press release.
Originally, the mayor delayed schools again until the third week of August. The guidance of the state requires students in first grade and to wear masks and for all students to control their temperatures and stay socially engaged, the Louisville Courier Journal reported.
The Kentucky Education Association said last week that public schools should only reopen in-person if statewide positive rates remain below 4 percent, according to the newspaper. Beshear reported Monday that the rate was 5.71 percent on Monday.
Kentucky experienced its highest one-day increase in new cases in two weeks on Saturday with 801 new cases, the Courier Journal reported. The state currently has a seven-day average of 621 cases per day, according to The New York Times.
The governor also said during the press conference that the state’s data provider had not fully reported all case numbers before Kentucky reported its total number of cases from last week.
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