In last briefing, as mandates are lifted, Kentucky Gov. Beshear says, ‘We are no longer in crisis’

Good afternoon, Just over 15 months ago, On February 27, I held my first news conference on COVID-19. It was still just a week before. We had had our first case here in Kentucky but concerns about this emerging global health pandemic. We're growing and I was determined to let Kentucky ins know that their state government was already mobilizing teams and resources to protect our people. Today, we are lifting the final restrictions put in place that have kept our people safe during this once in a lifetime global pandemic. Let me be clear. COVID-19 remains deadly. Our war against it is not yet won. This will not be the last time I speak about Covid during a press conference. But after more than 15 months of struggle and of sacrifice, we can say this while Covid remains a threat. We are no longer in crisis because of that extraordinary achievement and all of the hard work by so many that it represents today. We are lifting all capacity limits. We are effectively ending mask mandates and ending healthy at work requirements in its place. In just a minute. I'll sign a new executive order that resends all of those previous restrictions and then keeps the mask measure in place only for a few high risk settings identified by the CDC's that include public transit, health care settings and long term care facilities. Given this moment, I know a lot of people worked really hard. So I'd at least like to ask dr stack Secretary Freelander, my chief of staff, uh Latasha to come up here and join me as I sign this executive order ending our restrictions here in Kentucky. Michael Brown, would you join us as well please? Mm. All right. Here we go. And there are always two and it's done. Mhm. Thank you. You want me to hold on to yours. Mhm. After more than a year of being at war with this virus, we have the hard won knowledge on how to lessen the spread and now to even defeat the virus with safe and effective vaccines. For these reasons. This will be the last official briefing centered on the crisis phase of covid in the commonwealth. So with that, let's turn to today's covid report as we have most days, we're starting today's covid briefing with some good news and this isn't just good news. It's really great news. It's the reason we are breaking free of this crisis. More and more Kentucky ins are choosing to get their shot of hope. As of today, over 2.1 million Kentucky ins have received at least their first shot of one of the approved vaccines. Today's vaccination number 2106464 We're now over 82% of all Kentucky and age 65 and up 58% of all Kentucky in 18 years or older and 50% now. 49.5%. According to actually last week's Uh report from the federal government, more than 50% of Kentucky adults 18 years or older are now fully vaccinated. We've also seen nearly 370,000 kentuckians register for our shot at a million, which is going to make three lucky Kentucky in ages 18 or older millionaires. While 15 Kentucky ins ages 12 to 17 will win three full ride scholarships to Kentucky colleges, universities, community and technical schools. The opportunity there is incredible. So in the coming weeks Again, three vaccinated Kentucky in because you must have received at least your first shot of hope will become millionaires and 15 Kentucky ins will win free ride scholarships for higher education. That is life changing, opening up untold possibilities and opportunities besides entering the drawing, all you need to do is the best possible thing you can do get vaccinated, 2.1 million Kentucky ins can be wrong. It's time to join those fellow Kentucky is working to defeat this virus. As a reminder drawings will be held July, 1, 29 and August 26 with winners announced the day after each drawing. Once again 370,000 kentuckians have already signed up in just over a week. If you haven't yet, you could do so at shot at a million ky dot gov. Remember you have up until the day before that drawing I think to go ahead and get your first dose of vaccine and you will be eligible if you don't before the first drawing. You can get your first shot any time before the second drawing and be eligible and anyone who's registered, we'll stay eligible all the way through for the drawings. Remember It's great that there's a shot at $1 million. It's great that there is a shot at a full ride scholarship. But this is how you protect yourself from a deadly virus, protect everyone around you and ultimately give us a full and final victory against COVID-19. So with that, let's look at today's COVID-19. Report numbers Today, we're reporting 237 new cases of COVID-19 and nine deaths attributable to the virus. Our test positivity rate stands at 2.05 Those reported to have died from COVID-19. And this is the last time I'll be reading these and clue to women Ages 54 and 71 from Gallatin County, A 71 year old man from Harlan County, A 52 year old man and a 99 year old woman from Jefferson County. A 60 year old woman from Jessamine County, A 66 year old man from McCreary County, A 92 year old man from Nelson County And a 56 year old man from Todd County. As we have all along, Let's remember that those aren't just ages or counties or genders. They are irreplaceable Kentucky ins that will be missed by their families and by their communities and to those families. It doesn't matter that has happened in the last couple months of when Covid is preying upon us. It is still a huge loss for them. And let's remember all the other Kentucky ins that have been taken from us in many instances, in the hardest ways that are imaginable, sometimes alone. Sometimes the health care worker holding their hand if they're lucky with an ipad so their family can say goodbye to those families, not being able to be there to hold. Traditional funerals have just taken a dark time and made it more difficult. So until we hit multiple days where we have zero deaths, I know what I'm going to continue to light where I'm living up green And we'll continue to ring the bells at 10. a.m. Until we can say that zero individuals are dying of covid in a positive news from today. I guess the last regular covid report, the very last federal report that we get moved us from red to yellow and moderate transmission. It's been more than a year since. We have seen a report like this coming from the federal government with virtually every single category going down and having done so for multiple weeks, saving lives of as many Kentucky ins as possible has been the motivating focus of my administration in fighting this war, fighting this virus this long and this publicly tears away any pretense any facade. I think people have seen me and they know that at my core I very deeply care about the people of the commonwealth, Determined early on that COVID-19 was beyond anything any of us had ever faced in our lifetimes, the seriousness, the deadliest. The deadliness of this photo required us to treat this for what it is a war and in fact a war that's taken more Kentucky and than any war that we have been through. A major part of that war was making sure people had the facts about a brand new virus sometimes, What we knew about it, changing very quickly and how it was acting. Changing quickly explaining to people the steps we would need to take in our response as our body of knowledge grew larger. So from that first briefing back in February 2022. Now, We've conducted 250 news conferences specifically, or mostly related to Covid. More than once, we held multiple covid briefings in the same day, my faith teaches me that we are our brother and our sister's keeper. If we didn't know this before, this pandemic brought into stark focus that all of our actions or our failures to act impact those around us, that we are all connected and here in ways that reach all the way to life and death. When asked what was the greatest commandment, jesus responded. Love your God with all your heart and soul, and love your neighbor as yourself. And in the gospel of john jesus tells the apostles, this is my command. Love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this to lay down his life for his friends in large measure and small, the people of Kentucky have lived up to this calling Health care workers walking into COVID units when in 95 masks couldn't be found sometimes wearing the same mask they had worn the day before. Our National Guard, taking positive, sometimes critically ill patients from nursing homes that have been devastated to a hospital, knowing they were putting themselves at risk, but driving just as fast as they could to try to save those lives and stabilizing those individuals, our police, our firefighters, our public health officials, being out there to do their jobs even when it was most dangerous. Taking the heroism that they normally show, which is about danger to themselves. But knowing that their families, people we love the most were added to that equation and for the leadership in so many places out there from just individuals modeling the right behavior to our faith leaders, to our local officials and trying to guide us in the right way to bring out the goodness inside all of us has been an incredible thing to see and to the people of Kentucky. Your faith and your trust in me Over the course of this crisis has been humbling. I thank you for the tens of thousands of letters, emails and sometimes even pieces of art, the consistent examples of care and compassion that you showed every single day, even when people were not watching. That's what kept us motivated seeing the goodness in one another. We've known for years. One of the things that makes us special in Kentucky is how we respond to an emergency, how we run to one another during flooding or tornadoes, things that last days, weeks Here, we were called to do it more than 460 days and we did. I hope when the story is written of the COVID-19 response and hindsight with enough time to think through it to remember back and to analyze it. That it's a story of our goodness, of the people who we are and what we did for one another. I hope it stands and shines as a beacon to who we can be when we let all the stuff that we think is important until something like this dominate us. And then we open ourselves up to true values. True values are not stances on political issues. There are things like kindness and generosity, selflessness, those are values and those are what we've shown. You know, if you paid attention to things like social media during this, you might come to believe there's a lot more division during this period. And the facts bear out. The truth is that Kentucky success is an inspiring story of hard work, shared values and cooperation, of sacrifice, leading to where we are today. The strength of our unity came into focus when I was asked a question, I think a couple weeks ago, person said governor, there were three dozen people outside of the mansion protesting that they were unwilling to get vaccinated. What's your response? My response was two million Kentucky ins made a different decision and now 2.1 million have already been vaccinated in our current day with the amplification that is out there. Sometimes the trees can drown out a very dense forest, but what we have done as people should not be diminished by noise. It is nothing short of amazing all year long. I saw Kentucky is coming together to be there for one another. Think back to when this first hit, there was limited knowledge that we had about how it spread and there's virtually no covid testing capacities in the beginning and then only our state lab, aside from reading deaths at a podium every day, The hardest thing I've had to do, The next artist thing I've had to do as governor is to tell people that thought that they had a deadly virus not to get tested. If they were young enough not to get tested, if they could ride it out to try to ride it out at home unless they became seriously ill. I think we all knew how hard and how scary that must have been for those Kentucky ins. But think about where we have come and we did it right here to have a partner first in gravity diagnostics and then in Blue water and then and so many others to take us from not having virtually any testing capabilities to anybody being able to get one anywhere in just a short drive from their home. It was the creation of something in a time of crisis that I think shows not only how we come together, but our ingenuity and what we can do when we all work together. We remember back when we couldn't get PPE when shortages first and masks and then in gowns and then even in gloves when we spent so many hours on the phone because somebody's cousins, uncles friends said that they had the next ability to get it and we chase down every single one of those. But some healthcare partners came to our aid. When are our was most dire? And we started seeing those shipments come in and we're able to build along with those healthcare partners, a full and robust supply of PPE to where it is no longer a concern. And then we look at the story of vaccines. Now, the fact that we have vaccines so quickly is a modern medical miracle. I'll give that one to science, but the fact that they are so effective on the first time, that's just a miracle. We owe that one to God That right now we can be more than 90% protected simply by showing up to take any of three safe and effective shots is incredible. And we did so much of it right here in Kentucky. Whether it's the ups world port hub where a large percentage of vaccines helping everybody all over the nation went through or whether it is that new facility in Bullitt County that is warehousing and ultimately shipping out those vaccines all around the country. So much of our vaccine distribution story in America is one that runs through Kentucky through it. All the decisions that I've had to make, but there are lots of people have had to make have been tough from the start of the covid crisis. I think I recognize that with a one in every 100 year pandemic, this would be the most important thing I was ever called to do. So I pledged to put politics behind and I made a lot of decisions that ought to prove that decisions between tough and tougher but always siding with the science and in a way that protected the most kentuckians as possible, we took strong, decisive measures that also were restrained in scope to and time to ensure the biggest effect against this virus. And as our knowledge changed, our effects are steps became more surgical. What we and every other state had to do in the beginning in March is very different from what we had to do in the summer. And ultimately, and the fall. And I don't want to overlook the pain and the sacrifice that so many went through to get us where we are today. So many small businesses shutting their doors for a period of time, so many of them having disruptions in their ongoing operations. Because it's just the type of setting that covid could spread. We've worked hard to try to be there for so many of these individuals, we set up special funds for hard hit restaurants and administered multimillion dollar programs to help renters and landlords stay afloat and there's more money to make sure they don't come out of this in debt. And once these lifesaving vaccines were in our hands, we lead the way in so many areas, we prioritize our most vulnerable and we have seen how deaths and long term care plunged In such a short time, going from 67% of our overall deaths to less. Then a third. That's living out our faith of helping the loss, the lonely, the left behind and ensuring that everybody counted. And we got the vaccines to those who need it the most first, and we were the first state in the nation to put teachers and school staff at the front of the vaccination line, dozens of state followed, and ultimately, the current President's administration adopted this as part of the national approach. It meant this year we got every single school system back open for in person learning without sacrificing the health and safety of those going in to teach them or to keep those facilities open still through it all. Even with the comparative success we've had, I can't get away from thinking about the 70 100 Kentucky ins that we've lost. My wife and I walk around the capital oftentimes later in the evening and we walked past those flags that are just outside my door. Many days we stop when we try to repair the ones that have been blown over or where the flag is coming off the stick. one day I picked up a flag that had been on the ground. You can tell for far too long, it's grass stained and I put it in the pocket, my fleece and it's still there. Every time I put it on and I put my hands in my pocket, I think about who that must represent and make it sure that they are not forgotten, Making sure that we recognize that while we are excited about moving through this, the grief is palpable and it's gonna take a long time to process again, reading the ages and the counties of those we've lost almost daily is the hardest thing I've ever done. Admittedly, I could have let others step up here and give this report, but I did not want them to go through what that felt like. We're in the process of developing a permanent memorial, to capture this grief, to capture the sacrifice Kentucky and have made, but also to sacrifice the heroism. The true heroic actions of everyone from our healthcare heroes to our everyday Kentucky is doing what it takes, even our Children first time in my lifetime that no matter how old you are, you have the opportunity to sacrifice for the health and lives of other people. We have a whole state full of superheroes and those include even the youngest amongst us who had to give up opportunities that will take work to ultimately repair throughout this crisis. My belief in the goodness and compassion of Kentucky ins is only strengthened even in the most difficult moments. Through it, all, Kentucky is everywhere. We're making the right calls and the sacrifices to keep the people they love safe and recognizing they have a duty to those they've never even met. While some of their states saw repeated devastation and disruption through 2020, we're one of the only states that not only beat back three waves of infection, but never had our hospitals overrun. We know that our actions saved thousands, likely tens of thousands of lives. I've never felt more pride in my commonwealth than to see just about everybody living for one another. My role, my actions during this time will be debated that's expected, and that's okay. But what should never be questioned are the actions and the strength, the resolve and the goodness of the people of this state. And we shouldn't try to question it. Political ambition is not an excuse to denigrate in any way the heartbreaking losses and deep sacrifices that winning this war in Kentucky has required. And such ambition does not justify misleading even lying to people about basic science and facts. So, let us always remember, for some of our fellow Kentucky ins, thousands of kentuckians, Covid is, and always will be a devastating, inconsolable portion of their lives. Let's also remember that our goodness is what's brought us through this. And because of that goodness, I believe that we are on track on track to one of the greatest times of prosperity. I believe it will be the greatest. Certainly in my lifetime, we find ourselves on the cusp of an exciting era that was only made possible by how we've managed this virus. We see ourselves coming back faster than ever anticipated and faster than most other states because of how we managed this virus. Again, it's not a mistake or a surprise. Goldman Sachs was telling us early on that doing things like mask mandates, we're going to result in a smaller hit in our economy and the ability to come out faster. Most recently, finches and moody analytics. Both noted Kentucky successful virus response as a key, if not the key to our resurgence, which Moody said was with gusto and we're seeing exciting job and investment plans. Every week In the last month alone, we announced log still distilleries, $36 million 146 new jobs to Nelson County team are set is 133 million expansion in Hart County, which can add 220 new jobs, Firestone industrial product companies. $50 million 200 And 50 new jobs. Villa North America's 8.8 million investment, bringing 75 new jobs to Shelby County Kruger packaging. $114.3 million investment, bringing 100 and 50 new jobs to eat town. Jackson purchases $8.76 million distillery in Fulton County, creating 30 new jobs and Louisville based on point warranty solutions. $900,000 expansion to add 100 And four new jobs in Jefferson County. I can say I have truly never been more excited about our future economically than what we're seeing right now. We're on the cusp of unprecedented prosperity and I think we're just getting started. But we got to take that same goodness, that same responsibility, that selflessness over selfishness and make sure we pay it forward. Because this prosperity has got to reach every part of this commonwealth, including places that have felt left behind in every part of every city. This is a great day. Our hard work has brought the crisis under control and we're reaping the rewards of doing it right and getting back to normal, but let us never lose sight of what it costs to be here. I think throughout all the months of these covid briefings, you've heard me say, we'll get through this and we'll get through this together on better days. It was a simple reminder that r truth strength lies in our ability to cooperate and to care about one another. On tough days, it was a reminder to everyone probably me, especially, that although the challenges were great and the grief sometimes too much to bear, none of us was alone at any time ever in this struggle. In the end, this just ends up being a true statement. We struggled and lost. We've grieved and mourned. We've achieved in triumph during this time and we've done it together. On a personal note, I want to thank a few people because I was never in this alone, Virginia. More are als interpreter and now rightfully so superstar has shown us through the power of her talents. An example, just how important inclusivity is during a crisis. And I believe it was Virginia that started a national trend where we now see interpreters at virtually every press conference of any type. I want to thank dr steven stack our Commissioner of the Department of Public Health, for his incredible work for his resolve for his being willingness to take just as many slings and arrows as I have and for always sticking with the right thing to do. I want to thank Erik Friedlander, Secretary of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services who provided his knowledge and expertise along with all those resources of the Cabinet. It's truly incredible with that. I'd like to ask dr stack to come up here and to give us some comments because he's been here at almost every single one of these from the very beginning. Steve, thank you governor. It's good to be here, but it's also good to be here for the last time. And I hope you understand that constructively. Today's a big day today to reflect on the journey we are now completing and on the journey that lies ahead. This being the final covid 19 specific press conference. I'll proceed much like I've done all along with some data, some stories and hopefully if you take away. So James, do you have my slide deck? Just three slides today. It's hard to pick from all the images we've used over the last year. A single image. If I were to try to tell the story, but on this one slide, I could probably stand here for a couple hours And tell stories that go with each one of these vertical bars. There are 67 weeks represented on the governor's purple stair stepper slide that he used in so many of these press conferences. We go all the way back to the beginning of March when we had an unknown disease spreading around the world, wreaking havoc wherever it went, scaring people, people worried about their lives and their safety, seeing hospitals overrun whole provinces, shut down in other countries, regions of countries having lockdowns, things that we have not seen any of us in our living memories. That's the beginning. Along the way, We've gone through our own reporting patient number one on March six and all the uncertainty and fear that brought to Kentucky, getting PPE when PPE could not be gotten building a testing system that did not exist in scaling it so that everyone in Kentucky could get tested whenever they needed to managing absolutely massive data surges with archaic data systems and processes never designed to handle the tasks that were thrown their way, preparing for worst case scenarios in Kentucky that we were seeing unfold in real time in other states and in other nations implementing first, healthy at home where a beers with bashir happened every day at five and as I traveled to state this week, it's remarkable how many people remember those times and then implementing healthy at work continuously learning educating and refining our efforts, navigating surges and plateaus, striving to interpret this data in real time. When having clarity with all of the uncertainty is forever a difficulty distributing medications and therapeutic. So I never thought when I became commissioner for public health, I'd be the chief executive officer of a complex pharmaceutical distribution company effectively. And then the vaccines. The vaccines are amazing. Three brand new vaccines released in less than 10 months from the first patient found here in Kentucky. We have vaccinated more than 2.1 million Kentucky ins in less than six months. Typically vaccines for Children nationally ships about 80,000 vaccines in six months. Just to put in context the sheer staggering size and complexity of the vaccination project that we are undertaking now a large part of the journey which is behind us, but more of which still remains all of this and more, so much more was accomplished by dedicated and hardworking state and local health officials around the state. I hope you all express your gratitude to them for the sacrifices that they have made to keep all of us safe and then all of the levels, levels of government, local, state and national that have worked together throughout this entire response in all the public and private sector partners. If ever you wanted to see the power of working together and putting aside differences to find commonalities and do good things, you need look no further than what we are going through now and what we have concluded with the covid pandemic. I have had the privilege to work with school superintendents, with judge executives and mayors, with college university presidents, with public health folks at every level of government. Um, Gosh has so many folks with hospital executives and chief medical officers with clinicians and it goes on and on and on. This has been an all hands on deck effort in every single one of those meetings. The central hallmark was cooperation and kindness and people coming together to do the things that needed to be done for Kentucky ins. So thank you to all of team Kentucky together. We have gotten through this. If I could have the second slide, please James. All right. This is where we are now, which leads to where we're heading. This is a staggering story. A 93% decline in new COVID cases in Kentucky since January. That's the top left, The bottom middle, an 83% decline in COVID-19 hospitalizations since January. It's the bottom middle again in the top right. A 95% decline in COVID-19 deaths since January Folks. That is staggering. A 95% decline. And you know what? There's a lot that went into this, but nothing more so than the modern medical miracle of vaccinations. And I've already said in less than 10 months, science developed vaccines for a disease that did not exist as recently as two months before they started this process, We vaccinated 2.5 or 2.1 million Kentucky hands and more than 172 million Americans have received at least one dose of vaccine as of today, Every Kentucky in 12 years of age and older today has access to these vaccines. We have over 700 thousands of doses available and waiting for people to get vaccinated right now in Kentucky and access to as many as two million more to draw down from the federal government. So folks to keep yourselves, your loved ones and the people you care most about safe. Please get your shot of hope as soon as you can and for all of you who have, thank you, Thank you for keeping yourself and your loved ones safe and for keeping all Kentucky and safe through your action. If we could have slide number three James, I tried to leave you with some stories along the way and as I was trying to think about some of the ones, of course there's about the honeybees. Don't be one buckshot, don't spread it, etch a sketches. Plans are often too often written on them and shaken regularly. Bow ties in Virginia. Even coined assign a name for me dr bowtie here in Kentucky, which is why I'm wearing one today because to not do so seemed inappropriate. And even my notebook, I had to Kentucky ins who noticed that I would walk up here with a notebook, one who made me a custom sort of acrylic cover on it, which adorns my bookshelf in the office. And another individual who noticed, I think just based on where I had the little marker thing that it was almost used up. And he shipped me a new uh notebook so that I wouldn't go without one. So these little acts of kindness makes such a big difference along the way because it has been a hard road for all of us. And so this week those cookies up there and thank you to Jessica and urban Kentucky for making those. I had the great joy to get out in the field and go down to Appalachia and visit southeast part of the state. And when I was in Powell County on the way back, I was gifted with this box of cookies, which don't only look phenomenal. They tasted pretty good too. Um, in there you have the team Kentucky, which the governor has helped us used as a rallying cry to bring us all together the bow ties, which became something of a hallmark for me, The etch a sketches and some of my audience is young. You may not know, but when you shake them, the image disappears. Right. That's you write your plans and then people shake it and everything has to change over and over and over. And of course the masks, which became such a part of our lives. The quote up there, she attributed to me. And this is the part that I wanted to share my last remarks in my parting thoughts along the way, it's really tough. But when you're sitting here in Frankfurt to try to project leadership across the state, it's hard to know if your message is received and how it's received and it's hard to know if you're repeating yourselves too many times or not enough. It's kind of difficult. So it's easy to see how people feel you get out of touch when you get further removed. One of the most affirming things, One of the most touching things this monday and Tuesday when I traveled in five of those counties was the number of people who told me in the different counties that those messages got through. That they said they heard that I said, keep calm, take care of your people do the right thing. I got your back. If you do the right thing, if you do the right thing and something doesn't go quite right, we'll stick up for you and I'll say that you were trying to do the best you could to do the right thing and how much that empowered them and it reassured them and enable them to go out and do hard things that had to be done. We would not be here today, were it not for the collective effort of lots and lots and lots of Kentucky. Ums I am very grateful for the privilege I've had to come into your lives. I wish it weren't for this reason, believe me, I wish it weren't. Um, but I am very grateful to all of Kentucky for the privilege to serve to Governor bashir and Secretary Friedlander. And I am very grateful to my public health colleagues. Uh, it has been the privilege of a lifetime to serve with my colleagues over at the State Department for Public Health and all the local Health Department. So Governor, thank you for the opportunity. And here's to a better summer. I have, thanks so much. I'd also be remiss if I didn't thank our lieutenant governor. The entire who's here, The entire governor's staff. There was a time when I was in quarantine that had set up a cabin. It was just me alone and they were able to uh, to broadcast out of our State police are National Guard, everybody who was out there doing the right things during this. And I got to take my wife, Brittany And my two kids because even in the toughest of times, I was able to come home to a family that loves me and a dog that kind of likes me. Um, but just having that stability. And as I think back, yes, there are difficult moments. But there was also the fact that I dinner every night with my kids. There was the fact that they came over almost every day for a period for for lunch and it's more time than I'll ever get to spend with them again on a daily basis going forward. So with that uh we will open it up for questions and and once we get through them I've just got a couple of last remarks and that'll be the end of these press conferences. So we've got a lot of people here today. We had those that R. S. V. P. But I want to make sure as we give each of those individuals who wants want a chance to ask a question then we'll feel them from anybody else. So we start with Karen Boyer from W. E. K. U. Good to see you in person. Sure. Yeah. Hi so you talked before about phasing out unemployment before september, Do you think you're going to do that? And have any of the people who died recently, Have they been vaccinated doing that? So of today's nine deaths, one have been vaccinated. What we're seeing in terms of deaths is about what's been reported on the effectiveness of the vaccines. Uh and again it's it's a COVID is a contributing factor. It doesn't mean that it is uh the sole factor. Uh the additional unemployment benefits, those $300 continue to put about $34 million dollars in our economy. A week. That first go to groceries, people should be right and then they go to things like retail and restaurants that have been hit so hard. So as we continue to consider um as as each week even goes on the steps we need to take. It's going to be based solely on how we can have a sustained recovery and not any democrat Republican Red State Blue State argument. So our goal is to make sure that we can move people off, but at the same time, not not remove those payments all at once for those that have their childcare eliminated or are still working jobs where they could be at significant exposure and may have underlying health conditions. So it's admittedly a tough needle to thread, but we're gonna make sure that we do it the right way without politics. Uh goodness. Karen's are w Ky governor. We've talked a lot on one end of the spectrum of the people who are not going committed or don't believe this is as serious as it was. Can, you know, touch on the other end of the spectrum, people who are now afraid to still go out and if there's time, will you continue on with all the other side in future press conference? Oh, I'm not doing a press conference. South Virginia. Uh, oh and or Rachel, Rachel. Um, but now this was, uh, let me touch on that. I think it was after our very first press conference, Virginia picked up the phone herself and called over to the office and said, I think that this is really important. Uh, that, that we have an interpreter there and that was brought to me. And my first thing is, she's exactly right. And make sure she's here today at five. Um, inclusivity is in itself a value and we're going to continue to live that out to those that have been vaccinated and are still scared to go out first. We will give you a little bit of time. It's the same science that got us to where we are right now is the one that says that while it's not risk free, It's 90-plus safe to do so many different things. But again, where your mask until you're comfortable taking it off, where your mask in the, in the situations where you want to wear it until you're comfortable. We've all been through a decent amount of trauma. So let's be patient with one another and give each other the time and the space that we need tom latex Kentucky today. Thank you governor. And get you too. Um, you touch briefly on the memorial update on the fundraising and where it stands. How close are you to having artists do proposals? So the covid memorial, which will be on the capitol grounds, is a way that we can remember the lost, the sacrifice of the living, but also the heroic actions of so many Kentucky ins. We have the artistic proposals in and that review process is just starting. We're going to need to do more fundraising as we move forward. When we announced it, we had that record flooding on virtually the same day. And we wanted to make sure that those individuals God help first, we'll have plenty of time to raise the dollars that need to be raised. But we're excited about looking at those proposals that have come in. Debbie enter from the courier journal. Is the Public Health emergency still exists? And what so the federal government still has? Um, it's, it's public health emergency in place. Uh, I believe 54 states ish. All have, there's uh, I'm sorry, 44, You know, I got through 250 of these without doing math and uh, social studies that poorly never show this to my kids. Um, only a handful have undone their order because here's the reason so much fema funding and assistance which we're still using requires an emergency order because fema's an emergency organization. So $96 million grant for vaccine distribution administration, we need. The emergency order is still in place. We have concerns about the Medicaid um grant that does the expanded federal match. We think that's at least in question about whether it would be uh impacted pandemic E. B. T. Also have some concerns about it. Um But there are some very specific executive orders. If we didn't have the EO would be undone. And I hope, I mean we didn't have the state of emergency that we can all agree on. Uh the allowance for re employment of retirees with no retirement penalty for things like health care for for police and fire. And E. M. S. The one that allows for frontline workers to qualify for certain workers compensation benefits if they get covid in the line of duty, the price gouging statute, the pharmacists being able to process emergency prescription refills. A lot of the expanded telehealth that is still necessary senior meals which come through fema, long term care funding that goes to the surveillance and the strike teams um as well as other types of fema response. So we've eliminated, you know, all um if not all of the restrictions that people will see in their daily lives, but there are still some things we have to do to respond to covid. Very basic things uh that that emergency order, it is still necessary for Alex keystone from the herald leader. Yes person. Yes. Since then this is please. Mhm. Well, I believe that we have seen more businesses stepping up on their own requiring masks. Since we've announced the lifting, then maybe we saw given the same effort during a period of time that we have been through. I certainly support any business that wants to continue that requirement if they believe they are at risk. Uh and I believe that we should all ultimately support that. Again, you don't go through something like this and just everybody immediately feel okay About where they are and and we have so much data now to where again, that's one of the reasons we can do what we can do. You can really analyze your risk based on where you are and what you're doing to make the right decisions. So any business that still feels that way. # one, get your employees vaccinated. But number two, if you want to keep it up, keep it up. Mark Vanderhof, W. O K. Y Yes, they don't acquire legal work. Mhm. Because they may be might take their business. Can you do that? But what we can do now is we can protect the people working in that business from the virus that would otherwise be coming in. And so for individuals in that business, if they get vaccinated and they're concerned they wear a mask on their own. They're certainly protecting themselves. And the other employees with these vaccines where we are right now as those that won't get vaccinated are risking harm to themselves and other people who have made that same decision. But there are steps for everyone else to take now. I mean as of today, people who are vaccinated are pretty safe. There's gonna be some more exposure and risk to people that aren't. And so I hope people will make the right decisions moving forward, Phil Pendleton WK Whitey. It seems like there's still a lot, a lot of what we're seeing Yesterday. There were 17, then There were nine. Why? We're still think so. So in yesterday's death numbers there were still uh, reports coming out of the group that looks at ones that we don't have all the documentation for or their questions to whether it is covid. So if you look at yesterday's by the date of death, a large portion of them were earlier, but we did not have everything we needed to do to conclude that it was a covid death. Now the queue for those is really small Now And then today of the 9, 8 people were unvaccinated. And what we're going to see as we move forward is fewer and fewer deaths. I think, I think all nine of those were in the last three months. Though. Today we're going to see fewer and fewer, but sadly they're going to be more and more unvaccinated Kentucky and so again get vaccinated, protect yourself and as we continue, we we've had a very rigorous process. Other states are going to go through the audits we did and their numbers are going to go up in the aftermath. We just did it in real time wanting to make sure we're giving people the real information joe reduces spectrum. I want to ask about unemployment broad sense because obviously that's been one of the thorough lines this whole time has been people trying to get unemployment benefits and struggling to get those benefits. Um I know there's been some changes with security issues but there are still thousands of people including you know from the very beginning of the pandemic, they're still waiting on benefits and they're still wanting to know what's going to happen with that I guess as we're kind of progressing out of these restrictions and that sort of thing, you know, what's going to be continuing the actively done too, diminish that backlog of cases. And how long have an issue do you expect us to be, is it going to linger for a few months a year even? How long do you expect to be an issue? So what what we're gonna be able to do coming out of the pandemic with more and more of our state employees vaccinated is more and more in person services and those aren't perfect. But I think everyone would say that they are helpful and as more and more people are able to see someone in person uh and and and and some to become more educated on steps that you have to do to secure uh unemployment. Hopefully we can get through those now um tell me how long it's gonna take would require us knowing how many claims there are aside from fraudulent claims which we've seen more and more of. But I hope the lesson we take out of this. And I've even heard people say that that what happened in the last administration or by the last general assemblies was okay. It's not you cannot starve your safety net during good times because you can't rebuild it. During traumatic pandemic times. We were asked to rebuild an IT. infrastructure and workforce and somehow come up with $18 million dollars was cut from a budget at a time when there were more claims than anyone had ever seen filed in human history. If you are going to be ready for these times, you've got to support these safety nets. When uh even when times are good. We asked for that in the current General Assembly, they said no that means all the additional people were adding to help get through that backlog or time limited under the federal government. That's not how we should be responding. We ought to fund through our state everything that's needed to make sure it never happens again. Perry bacon now from the Washington post. Yeah, sure. I assume it's got little support and have more 40 years. All they clearly felt right. No, in the gulf. So one of the things we've said all along is this has been a balancing act all along. Trying to do the best we can in difficult circumstances when there were no vaccines. When the virus was entirely unknown. When we didn't have confidence how it was transmitted, how readily it was transmitted. We didn't have any idea what therapies worked or didn't work. Then there was little to nothing just about anybody in society can do to keep themselves safe. Now we understand the virus a lot better now, we know how to treat it a lot better now. We have PPE to protect health care workers and now we have vaccines That can give you a 95% protection that you're not going to die from this And that it gives you over 90% protection. You're not gonna end up in an ice, you or a hospital. Now, the calculus shifts, there are steps we can all take to keep ourselves safe. And if we are still vulnerable despite that, and there are people who have immune system problems who have other medical issues, then they can choose to modify their activities. They can wear a mask, they can avoid certain settings. So now the burden I think falls more to us as individuals to make choices to protect ourselves and to take the steps we can. And when the governor says eight or 9 people we announced is dying today were unvaccinated. The evidence is overwhelming. If you get vaccinated and all of us get vaccinated, we can put this behind us and we won't have to dwell on it anymore. And no one will be at risk. Until then every individual now needs to take the steps. They need you to keep themselves safe. Right? Melissa Patrick, Kentucky health news. Hello? Yeah. And so many Kentucky ins will take your directives today as a sign that the pandemics over. What do you have to say to those who think that we're done well to those that are vaccinated again and making overall good decisions and willing to get boosters if we need to. The risk to them is very low and normalcy is here again and thank you for your hard work and your willingness to get vaccinated if you are not vaccinated. We have talked over and over and over about how to protect yourself from this virus. And you have the personal choice now either to get the protection of the vaccine or to take the steps that we know can can protect your. Um, so, to to uh, everybody out there just do the right thing. Okay from uh, W. H. A. S. I want to do the pronunciation right tonight and tell me your last name tonight. All right. Tonight, europe. Hi Governor. Um, so with this finger last briefing looking bad when you reflect, is there anything you wish you would have done? Is there any regrets? Uh, any regrets changes things? I would have done differently. Let's say. In addition to uh, not knowing that there was an individual named Tupac Shakur in Lexington. Yeah. That one of our journalists actually knew that day. Um, I did apologize to him and his claim to get processed. Uh, certainly when you, when you, when you look back, there were things that we didn't know that. I wish we had now the effectiveness of masks early on and we were just following the advice of, of experts. But certainly, I think as a country, if we would've known earlier how effective masks were, we would have provided different advice. Um, we were also, I think that generally in the beginning we thought that this wouldn't last as long as it has. So if I could go back in time and I tell people that wars don't last weeks or months, they can last a year or more and that we needed to prepare ourselves for that, that again, we were going to get through it and we're gonna get through it together, but it's gonna take longer than any two weeks that we looked at to flatten the curve. Um, but I'm fallible, just like everybody else out there and, and answering questions about viruses we don't know much about has been, has been challenging at different times. But what it did require is that I break basically every rule of politics and public speaking by, by officials, I have to say. I don't know more times than they would ever teach you to. Um, being vulnerable, which is not easy just in a daily basis for me. But in front of um, an entire state. Um, I wish earlier on, we've done something like we've done with the flags. I think it is a moving reminder of our loss and the individuals lost. I wish early on, I would have told people that when we lose someone after a little bit, it may not seem real to you because it happens at a hospital or at a home. And if you're seeing it, you're at a place that either you're working at or you shouldn't be. That's how this virus works. But it is just as real. Would have told more stories about the special people we've lost because they deserve that. Absolutely. I deserve that. Yeah. It's been a long journey and I think we've done more things right than most states. I'm sure there have been some that we would have done differently. Um, but I've always done what I think is the right thing. Uh, even if there are those that that might not agree. All right. Do we have someone from W. L. E X? We did not get a Yes. I'm sorry. Yes, of course. You just said. Um, you really didn't anticipate this last thing, as long as it had. One of the big questions people had throughout this entire, when is this going to be over now? Looking back on it, where so many months ahead did you ever expect that there would be an ending point before this and were disappointed when it hadn't happened time and time again? We had certainly hoped that even without a vaccine by doing the right things, by being healthy at home, uh, that if enough people in the country came together and did those things, we were hoping we could lessen or even potentially eliminate the virus. But just as much one of our major goals was to slow the spread until we could learn about it, how it spreads, how to treat it. One of the scariest things in the beginning is you go to the hospital with it and they didn't know what to do for you. I mean, we didn't have monoclonal antibodies and know what they were doing. We had lots of debates about whether something helped you or didn't. And so at different times, we were lessening the spread of the virus to buy us time and we never thought of vaccine would come as early as it didn't be as effective, but we did need more time to learn how to treat it so that our hospitals weren't overrun and so people could get the help they need it. I think it became apparent in late summer that this was going to last longer and that the vaccines were going to be absolutely necessary. That was the tough news, incredible news is how effective the vaccines are. We all expected or hoped for? Something like the flu shot in the 70s, maybe in the 60s. Uh, that would have been great and we could have worked from there. But the 90s, cutting down death is more than we could have ever prayed for. And so while there were the, the things we might have wished it happened differently, uh this was an absolute gift from God that I'm gonna be grateful for my entire life. I'll never forget sitting in that office and seeing what wasn't the pessimistic, but the moderate Early view on how many people we would lose it was 80,000 here in Kentucky. And I had to look at that And know that I was going to be the governor and the captain of the ship and we might lose 80,000 no matter what we did. We've done a lot better than that. Obviously those models weren't weren't as accurate. Um Thank God as they might have otherwise been. All right, anybody else? Yeah. Yeah. Uh huh. About heaven. Lot of it right now On the parents specifically those 12, 17 now have the decision. They feel it's safe for their Children back. How are you navigating at hesitancy in what will you do if and when that as a crucial that was younger parents. So might be even more hesitant. And if you even for those Children who might want to be back there. So next week My son turns 12 and after his birthday, the day after his birthday, I'm taking him to get vaccinated. You know, I always said that I'd get the vaccine when it came out but I stood next to my wife and she got the vaccine. They'll stand next to my son when he gets it. I love them. And my daughter, Lila, who's not quite old enough yet more than life itself. And I trust this vaccine enough for them to get it. This is how we ensure when we go back to school, it's normal and kids can have all the experiences they need to. I mean, I'm watching my kids get back to in person school, my son to be playing baseball and my daughter to be able to do so many things that she hadn't and well I don't see them as much. I see how happy and engaged they are and it's, it's really special. We gotta want that for every single kid out there And that means making responsible decisions as parents and for Children. And it's about giving people good information. And I was at a place where somebody and all the best of intentions, a younger Kentucky new fall between 12 and 17 sat down and said, What's it like to be governor? You know, small question. And and then afterwards said, did you get the vaccine because it's got magnets set? I mean, not meaning anything negative, but just repeating information that she'd heard. So just Again, looking at trusted sources, pediatricians, uh, as this gets out there knowing there's going to be more voices and there's 15 free rides to college as someone who's kids aren't eligible. Mhm. And they are going to be in college overlapping at least three years. Um, they better graduating for uhh, that's a pretty big deal. Um, and it just adds hope on top of that shot. I hope. All right. Come what better access to capital? And so we are looking at having a full capital opening on july the first. It's for a couple reasons. They are all primarily security related. We saw on January the 6th that we need to have a certain security in place and the legislature in their budget budgeted for additional security based on a capital reopening those funds don't open up until july the first. There's going to have to be some new and different rules about capacity, which wasn't always monitored in the past. But the fire marshal would tell you is really important. And also where people can can congregate because we can't disrupt the actual business that is occurring here. All right. In many ways. You too. Yes. Some state we're going to be publishing at least monday through friday. We're looking at the weekends are folks have worked awfully hard Um, these last 15 months. Anybody else? Yeah, we're going, can we ask Virginia. Of course. Yeah. Apparently that is a lot of signing for no. Yeah. Forever right. That you consider listing the death spiral county and age. Otherwise that information where those are happen because sure and any any other information just let us know, we want to provide as much of, of what's needed and necessary at the same time moving forward. We would like to lessen the weekend hours of folks that have again been in the trenches as long as they had anybody else bring in as many vaccinations as you help. So it's too early to tell. Um, in in Ohio, it took a little bit to pick up. And it actually picked up more after the first drawing. I think yesterday we had 8000 that were reported and we had a lot of days before that were four. If it get it up to about 8000 a day, that'd be, that'd be great over that period of, of time. The other challenge when we try to evaluate it is going to be how many people otherwise would have been getting it. As we see numbers falling off if our numbers were gonna fall to 1000 but we can keep them at four or five, you know, that's worth it to. And certainly the interest is there because our sign ups have occurred faster. Uh certainly than Ohio is at this point. But but we're coming later, your doctor's offices fall under medical facilities. Or is it just the hospital still going? Uh Well, let dr stack make sure we get that guidance out about what qualifies as the medical facilities that the yeah. Okay. Thank you. Great. All right. So I don't think on March the 6th or even the couple before that any of us knew um the journey would be on many of those that are in this room were on much of it when we were in person and then we're on the phone every day to the media. Thank you for trying to spread the right information. Whether flattering or unflattering the information. That would help people uh, to get through this and to make wise decisions going forward. I want to make sure that we are accessible directly to the people of Kentucky, but also uh, to the questions that can and and should be asked sometimes that create good ideas that we hadn't thought of and and sometimes that just make sure that we are on our game day in and day out. We're going to continue to likely hold weekly team Kentucky updates. But they will be on a lot of different topics of that week, but an opportunity to answer questions. But I can't tell you in many ways. I think the emotion is relief about this being the last covid regular press conference. And I don't mean relief in the sense that I don't have to come up here and and do it. I mean relief. And they were at this point relief and that we don't have people in long term care facilities dying every single day. And and being evacuated to hospitals, relief that I can put away the giant map where we had calculated every individual patient that are state parks could hold and how we would staff them. Relief that we no longer need. The concentric circles about when we were going to have to tell hospitals that they needed to push people two different places. Relief that we don't face those days where we were worried about whether there was going to be enough food on the shelf over diapers. I remember us or can to secure excess baby food for somebody who couldn't get it at the grocery during one of the early days of this pandemic and relief that our goodness is people as Kentucky and has paid off has gotten us through this um better than most, we still have work to do. But the crisis at this point is over and I really look forward to seeing people face to face for not taking so many things for granted that we did remember. We are all connected and as Kentucky ins, we succeed when we work together as we approach this new I believe, era of prosperity where we are no longer a flyover state, we are just as viable for any opportunity out there as anyone else. That it's that working together, making sure prosperity reaches everybody, remembering that we are brother and sister's keeper and we have to love our neighbor as ourselves. That will make us that special place. That can be a leader, can be an absolute leader in this economy that we are creating and we're going to create. And I look forward to being a governor that's known more for, uh, for just working to get us through covid. But one I hope that ushers in a time when we see people succeed and prosper and provide opportunities for their kids, they never knew was possible. Thank you all very much. And Virginia, This is our very last one. Thank you.

In last briefing, as mandates are lifted, Kentucky Gov. Beshear says, ‘We are no longer in crisis’

Updated: 3:30 PM EDT Jun 11, 2021

It's a big day in Kentucky.The major mandates that have been in place for more than a year, requiring face masks in public places and putting limits on capacity, are being lifted Friday.And as the mandates disappear, so will Gov. Andy Beshear's regular COVID-19 briefings — which started out daily in March 2020 and dwindled down to once a week in recent months.In all, Beshear said he delivered 250 live updates. And Friday is the last.As for why they end now, he said, "After 15 months of struggle and sacrifice, we can say this. While COVID remains a threat, we are no longer in crisis."He sat down and signed the official executive order rescinding the months-long mandates, which also include his Healthy at Work requirements. Beshear then did some of the normal things -- like announcing new cases and deaths for the last time, and the current COVID-19 rate, which is 2.05%.His team also provided bigger data, like that weekly COVID-19 cases have declined 93% since January, the number of deaths has declined 95% since January and the number of hospitalized patients had declined 83%. Beshear has used all the news conferences to give information on the virus, announce mandates and orders to prevent its spread, give data on cases and deaths, and mourn those who succumbed to the virus.He began a tradition of starting them out with what became his catchphrase, "We're gonna get through this-- we're gonna get through this together." He introduced us to Virginia, the lovable ASL interpreter, and we rooted her on when she began a battle against cancer (which she beat!). And we also got familiar with Dr. Steven Stack, the commissioner of the Kentucky Department for Public Health, who became synonymous with bow ties.Both were on hand for the last news conference, as well as other familiar faces who were leaders of "Team Kentucky" like Eric Friedlander, secretary of the state's Cabinet for Health and Family Services and Kentucky’s Justice and Public Safety Cabinet Secretary J. Michael Brown.He thanked them all, as well at Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman and his family.Beshear touted one of their biggest achievement as being the first state to give vaccine priority to teachers and school staff.The next time we know we'll hear from Beshear again is when we hear about the winners of a "Shot at a Million," Kentucky's lottery for those who are vaccinated.

It's a big day in Kentucky.

The major mandates that have been in place for more than a year, requiring face masks in public places and putting limits on capacity, are being lifted Friday.

And as the mandates disappear, so will Gov. Andy Beshear's regular COVID-19 briefings — which started out daily in March 2020 and dwindled down to once a week in recent months.

In all, Beshear said he delivered 250 live updates. And Friday is the last.

As for why they end now, he said, "After 15 months of struggle and sacrifice, we can say this. While COVID remains a threat, we are no longer in crisis."

He sat down and signed the official executive order rescinding the months-long mandates, which also include his Healthy at Work requirements.

Beshear then did some of the normal things -- like announcing new cases and deaths for the last time, and the current COVID-19 rate, which is 2.05%.

His team also provided bigger data, like that weekly COVID-19 cases have declined 93% since January, the number of deaths has declined 95% since January and the number of hospitalized patients had declined 83%.

Beshear has used all the news conferences to give information on the virus, announce mandates and orders to prevent its spread, give data on cases and deaths, and mourn those who succumbed to the virus.

He began a tradition of starting them out with what became his catchphrase, "We're gonna get through this-- we're gonna get through this together."

He introduced us to Virginia, the lovable ASL interpreter, and we rooted her on when she began a battle against cancer (which she beat!).

Hearst Owned

And we also got familiar with Dr. Steven Stack, the commissioner of the Kentucky Department for Public Health, who became synonymous with bow ties.

Both were on hand for the last news conference, as well as other familiar faces who were leaders of "Team Kentucky" like Eric Friedlander, secretary of the state's Cabinet for Health and Family Services and Kentucky’s Justice and Public Safety Cabinet Secretary J. Michael Brown.

He thanked them all, as well at Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman and his family.

Beshear touted one of their biggest achievement as being the first state to give vaccine priority to teachers and school staff.

The next time we know we'll hear from Beshear again is when we hear about the winners of a "Shot at a Million," Kentucky's lottery for those who are vaccinated.