Dollar General investors approved a resolution Wednesday to create an independent audit of the chain's safety policies because of violence at stores and millions of dollars in fines for workplace safety violations.

The third-party audit should evaluate "management and business practices that contribute to an unsafe or violent environment" the resolution said. It said that "understaffing and poor security measures at Dollar General stores may also contribute to increased risk of gun violence to staff and communities."

The vote to audit the company's practices was a rebuke to Dollar General's leadership and a sign of growing pressure on the fast-growing retailer to improve workplace safety. Dollar General has more than 19,000 stores and 160,000 employees.

Since 2014, there have been 49 workers and customers killed and 172 injured at Dollar General stores, according to data from the non-profit group Gun Violence Archive. The Labor Department has proposed more than $21 million in fines against Dollar General since 2017 for safety hazards in stores, such as blocked fire exits and electrical outlets and boxes stacked up aisles. The agency deemed Dollar General a "severe violator" of workplace safety laws last year.

Spencer Platt/Getty Images/FILE

Dollar General's board of directors had recommended shareholders vote against the resolution, which was introduced by progressive investment firm Domini Impact Investments and worker advocacy groups.

"A majority vote supporting an independent audit on worker health and safety is a win for Dollar General workers," said Mary Beth Gallagher, director of engagement at Domini, in a statement Wednesday. "We hope the company will act quickly to conduct an independent audit, incorporating worker and customer input."

A Dollar General spokesperson told CNN that the company was awaiting the final results of the proposal and would report it in an SEC filing. The company did not say whether it will conduct the audit.

An intensive care physician said the COVID-19 situation in her hospital is worse now than it ever has been.

Hospital officials at Elliot Hospital in New Hampshire report the intensive care unit typically has 14 beds. The surge this week is up to 26 ICU patients, and most are battling COVID-19.

There are so many sick patients, the hospital opened a surge ICU on the fifth floor and now the state is making contingency plans for what they call a disruption in post-mortem care — more bodies than the hospital morgue can hold.

“They're sicker. They're younger. A lot of them don't have any pre-existing conditions and it's scary,” Dr. Laura McPhee, of Elliot Hospital’s intensive care unit, said.

McPhee was working Wednesday, which is normally her day off.

“We have so many patients in the ICU right now that we are all pulling extra shifts and coming in extra days to work,” McPhee said.

The doctor has been keeping a video diary.

“We're caring for three to four times as many patients as we ever have and we don't have enough staff to do so. We're tired. It's been extremely hard on everybody,” McPhee said.

>> Elliot Hospital workers share what they're experiencing during COVID-19 surge

The Disaster Medical Assistance Team deployed to assist front-line health care workers at Elliot Hospital is leaving Wednesday. Hospital officials said the two-week mission cut down emergency department triage time and allowed 47 patients to get care faster.

“We knew this day would have to come that they would have to leave, but we are grateful to have had them for the time that we had, which was some of the most extraordinary volume levels for us,” Tate Curti, chief operating officer at Elliot Hospital, said.

There’s a refrigerator truck in the back of the hospital for overflow from the morgue – a grim reminder of COVID-19’s most devastating effects.

“We are not using that piece of equipment now. As I understand it, a number of them will be distributed geographically throughout the state. We are but one facility who has one,” Curti said.

“This doesn't have to happen. I've not ever seen a patient here in the ICU who's been fully vaccinated with the booster. Not one,” McPhee said.

McPhee recalled thinking the end was in sight over the summer when they had no COVID-19-positive patients in ICU. She is incredulous to realize it's worse right now than it's ever been. She said this is all preventable.

A teen who loved dancing. An AT&T district manager. An aspiring Border Patrol agent. And an engineering student working on a medical device to help his ailing mother.

Clearer pictures began to emerge Sunday of some of the eight people who died after fans at the Astroworld music festival in Houston suddenly surged toward the stage during a performance by rapper Travis Scott.

Authorities said Sunday they wouldn't release the names of the dead, but family members and friends shared accounts of their loved ones with journalists and through social media. Mary Barton, a spokeswoman in Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner's office, said identities were expected to be made public on Monday.

The dead ranged from 14 to 27 years old, according to Houston officials. As of Sunday, 13 people remained hospitalized.

City officials said they were in the early stages of investigating what caused the pandemonium at the sold-out event founded by Scott. About 50,000 people were there.

Experts who have studied deaths caused by crowd surges say they are often a result of density — too many people packed into a small space. The crowd is often either running away from a perceived threat or toward something, such as a performer, before hitting a barrier.

'LOVED HIS MOM'

Franco Patino, 21, was working toward a mechanical engineering technology degree at the University of Dayton, with a minor in human movement biomechanics, his father, Julio Patino, said in an interview. He was a member of Alpha Psi Lambda, a Hispanic interest fraternity, and the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, and was working in an engineering co-op program.

Patino described his son as a charismatic, energetic leader who was active in his community and intent on helping people with disabilities.

He said his son was working with a team on a new medical device, and that he wanted to find a way to help his mother walk again after she was severely injured in an automobile accident in Mexico two years ago.

Through tears, Patino described how his son — who enjoyed weight lifting, football and rugby — used his strength to break a door and free his mom from the wreckage.

"He loved his mom," Patino said. "He said everything that he was doing, it was trying to help his mom. The entire goal."

Julio Patino, of Naperville, Illinois, was in London on business when the phone rang around 3 a.m. He answered it and heard his wife, Teresita, crying. She said someone had called from a hospital about their 21-year-old son, Franco, and that a doctor would be calling her soon. About 30 minutes, she called back with the doctor on the line.

"The doctor was giving us the news that our son had passed away," Patino said.

Patino said he had last spoken with his son about 2 p.m. Friday. Franco told his dad that there weren't a lot a people at the festival site yet

"Don't worry, I'm fine," Patino recalled his son saying. "I just said, 'Ok, just be careful.'"

'HARD-WORKING MAN'

Danish Baig, who identified himself on Facebook as a district manager for AT&T, and appeared to be a devoted Dallas Cowboys fan, was among those who died at the concert, his brother Basil Baig said on Facebook.

"He was (an) innocent young soul who would always put others before him. He was a hard-working man who loved his family and took care of us. He was there in a heartbeat for anything. He always had a solution to everything," Basil Baig told ABC News.

A funeral for Danish Baig is expected to be held on Sunday in Colleyville in the Dallas-Forth Worth area, his brother said. Messages left with Basil Baig were not returned.

LOVED TO DANCE

Brianna Rodriguez's family told People magazine that she was among those who perished at the concert. She was 16, a student at Heights High School and loved dancing, according to the family the magazine spoke with. A message left with the family was not immediately answered.

ASPIRING BORDER AGENT

Rudy Pena, of Laredo, Texas, was a student at Laredo College and wanted to be Border Patrol agent, his friend Stacey Sarmiento said. She described him as a people person.

"Rudy was a close friend of mine," she said. "We met in high school. He was an athlete… He brought happiness anywhere he went. He was easy to get along with. It was like positive vibes from him at all times."

"We all came to have a good time … it was just horrible in there," she added.

___

Associated Press writers Jamie Stengle and Juan Lozano in Houston contributed to this report. Chase reported from Dover, Delaware. Catalini reported from Trenton, New Jersey.

As the world nears the milestone of 5 million COVID-19 deaths, memorials large and small, ephemeral and epic, have cropped up around the United States.

In New Jersey, one woman's modest seaside memorial for her late brother has grown to honor thousands of lost souls. In Los Angeles, a teen's middle school project commemorating her city's fallen through a patchwork quilt now includes the names of hundreds more from around the world.

Here's a look at what inspired some U.S.-based artists to contribute to the growing collection of memorials honoring the nearly 5 million dead worldwide from COVID-19.

___

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Back in June, Suzanne Brennan Firstenberg purchased more than 630,000 small white flags in preparation for staging a massive temporary memorial on the National Mall.

It would be more than enough, she thought, to represent all the Americans who would have succumbed to the virus as the pandemic seemed to be on the retreat.

She was wrong. By the time " In America: Remember " opened Sept. 17, more than 670,000 Americans had died as the virus' delta variant fueled a deadly resurgence. At the end of the exhibit's two-week run, the number was more than 700,000.

Firstenberg was struck by how strangers connected in their grief at the installation, which ended Oct. 3.

"I was blown away by the willingness of people to share their grief and by the willingness of others to lessen it, to honor it," she said. "So when I looked out on those flags, I saw hope. I really believe humanity is going to win out."

The installation was the second monumental exhibit to remember virus victims that the Maryland-based artist has staged. Firstenberg previously planted nearly 270,000 white flags outside Washington's RFK Stadium last October to represent the national death toll at the time.

"For the first one, my motivation was outrage that the country could let something like this happen," she said. "This time it was really to cause a moment of pause. The deaths have been relentless. People have become fully inured to these numbers."

___

WALL TOWNSHIP, NEW JERSEY

On Jan. 25, Rima Samman wrote her brother Rami's name on a stone and placed it on a beach in her hometown of Belmar, New Jersey, surrounded by shells arranged in the shape of a heart. It would have been Rami's 41st birthday, had he not died from COVID-19 the previous May.

A makeshift memorial quickly grew up after Samman, 42, invited others in an online support group to contribute markers memorializing their own loved ones. By July there were more than 3,000 stones in about a dozen hearts outlined by yellow-painted clam shells.

Samman and other volunteers decided to preserve the memorial because it was located on a public beach and exposed to the elements. They carefully disassembled the arrangements and set them in display cases.

"I knew if we just demolished it, it would crush people," she recalled. "For a lot of people, it's all they have to remember their loved ones."

The displays are now the centerpiece of the Rami's Heart COVID-19 Memorial, which opened in September at Allaire Community Farm in nearby Wall Township. It includes a garden, walking path and sculptures, and honors more than 4,000 virus victims and growing.

Maintaining the memorial has been both rewarding and tough, as she is still mourning the loss of her brother.

"It's a double-edged sword because as much as working on the memorial helps, every day you're exposed to this grief," Samman said. "It's a lot of pressure. You want to make sure it's done right. It can be draining."

___

LOS ANGELES

Madeleine Fugate's memorial quilt started out in May 2020 as a seventh-grade class project.

Inspired by the AIDS Memorial Quilt, which her mother worked on in the 1980s, the then-13-year-old encouraged families in her native Los Angeles to send her fabric squares representing their lost loved ones that she'd stitch together.

The COVID Memorial Quilt has grown so big it covers nearly two dozen panels and includes some 600 memorial squares honoring individuals or groups, such as New Zealand's more than two dozen virus victims.

The bulk of the quilt is currently at the Armory Art Center in West Palm Beach, Florida, with a smaller portion on permanent display at the California Science Center in Los Angeles and another featured at the International Quilt Museum in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Fugate, her mother and a small, dedicated band of volunteers meet Sundays to sew and embroider panels. Fabric and other materials are donated by victims' families.

Now a high school freshman, she plans to keep the project going indefinitely.

"I really want to get everyone remembered so that families can heal and represent these people as real people who lived," she said.

Fugate would like to see a more formal national memorial for COVID-19 victims one day, and perhaps even a national day of remembrance.

"It would be amazing to see that happen, but we're still technically fighting the war against this virus," she said. "We're not there yet, so we just have to keep doing what we're doing. We are the triage. We're helping stop the bleeding."

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — The number of positive coronavirus tests in Kentucky increased again Friday, driving the total number of cases in the state over 30,000, but Gov. Andy Beshear said the percentage of tests coming back positive declined again.

The closely watched “positivity rate” fell for a third straight day to 5.43%, Beshear said in a news release.

“But, we still have too many cases and we need to do everything we can to try to decrease those,” he said.

There’s also been an increase in intensive care unit patients, he said.

There are at least 30,151 coronavirus cases in Kentucky, including 778 new cases reported Friday, Beshear said. The number reported Friday was up from 659 new cases on Thursday. Four new deaths were reported Friday, bringing the total number of Kentuckians who have died from the virus to 735.

For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some — especially older adults and people with existing health problems — it can cause more severe illness and be fatal.

FRANKFORT, Ky. — Gov. Andy Beshear reported 700 new COVID-19 cases and seven virus-related deaths for a total of 32,197 total positive cases and 751 virus-related deaths on Tuesday.

“While today we have a higher number than we did at this time last week, we believe there is a general leveling off though today there are more cases than last week," the governor said at his daily press briefing Tuesday.

Kentucky's positivity rate had fallen slightly to 5.18% by Monday, and it rose again to 5.24% on Tuesday, an amount Beshear said is not a significant bump.

Still, he warned that with the rising case numbers last month, state and health officials expect numbers of virus-related deaths to increase within several weeks to a month.

"It's probably going to be a really hard August," Beshear said.

But since the state required Kentuckians to mask up on July 10, case growth has slowed from 52% from July 13-19 to 5% from July 27 - Aug. 2. Beshear said Kentuckians can expect that mask mandate, slated to last 30 days, to be extended.

“Before we can have a full plateau, before we can start seeing case numbers go down, you have to slow the growth that is out there," Beshear said.

In her first appearance during the governor's press conference, Kentucky First Lady Britainy Beshear called on Kentuckians to donate face masks for students, educators and staff returning to school later this month through the launch of the new Coverings for Kids program.

“It’s more important than ever that we are proactive in preparing our schools for a safe return when that day eventually comes,” she said Tuesday.

Starting Aug. 11, people can drop off purchased or handmade masks at district donation centers. For more information on donating face masks, click here.

Free testing in NKY this week

In Northern Kentucky, St. Elizabeth Healthcare and Covington's Gravity Diagnostics will offer free, appointment-only drive-thru testing at 25 Atlantic Ave in Erlanger starting Thursday. The site, the former Toyota HQ building off Mineola Pike, will be open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Additionally, appointment-only drive-up testing will be available through St. E at 7200 Alexandria Pike, Alexandria starting Tuesday, Aug. 11. The free testing site will be open on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Schedule an appointment at those sites online at www.stelizabeth.com/covid-testing.

Kentucky has administered 650,093 COVID-19 tests so far. To find all coronavirus testing locations near you, click here.

More Ky. case numbers

NKY Health reported that 2,878 people in Boone, Campbell, Kenton and Grant counties have tested positive for coronavirus since March, with 833 active virus cases. As of Tuesday, 81 people have died of the virus and 1,964 people have recovered. Gov. Beshear reported that a 50-year-old man in Kenton County died of coronavirus on Tuesday.

In 248 of Kentucky's long-term care facilities, 2,635 residents (444 active cases) and 1,454 staff (213 active cases) have tested positive for the virus; 478 residents and four staff members have reportedly died of the virus as of Tuesday.

In 110 Kentucky childcare centers, 84 staff and 75 children have tested positive for COVID-19 as of Tuesday.

Restaurants reduce capacity, travel advisory updated

To prevent statewide shutdowns and case surges seen in other states, Beshear ordered restaurants to reduce indoor dining capacity to 25% and maximize outdoor seating when possible. On Tuesday, Beshear said he would look into a possibly capacity increases when Kentucky's positivity rate dips back under 5%.

The governor announced a travel advisory earlier this month, asking Kentuckians to avoid traveling to states with high COVID-19 positivity rates, and if they do travel to hard-hit areas to quarantine for two weeks.

On Monday, the list of states on the travel advisory included Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Mississippi, Nevada and South Carolina. Ahead of events in Louisville, including the 51st Street Rod Nationals this weekend, Beshear encouraged people attending from out-of-state to be responsible and get tested.

Beshear also recently enacted a 10-person limit on social gatherings, a delay of school start dates to the third week of August and a two-week shutdown for all bars.

Watch a replay of the briefing in the player below:

FRANKFORT, Ky. — After testing negative for COVID-19 on Tuesday, Gov. Andy Beshear reported 1,163 new COVID-19 cases Wednesday, the highest daily case count Kentucky has seen so far.

Earlier this week, the governor reported that a computer glitch had delayed new case reports from reaching the state to be counted.

“The most accurate thing we can do in the way that we’ve reported is that when they are processed by us, they go onto the site. So today, we’ve set a record that we didn’t want to set -- we never wanted to get over 1,000 cases," he said.

Kentucky reports 36,945 total COVID-19 cases and 790 virus-related deaths. More than 8,819 people have recovered from the virus.

NKY Health reports that 3,265 people across Boone, Kenton, Campbell and Grant counties have tested positive for COVID-19, and 85 people have reportedly died of the virus. The health department reports 849 active cases, and 2,331 people who have recovered from coronavirus as of Wednesday.

Kentucky's positivity rate has fallen slightly from 6% to 5.62%, and the state has now administered more than 711,017 coronavirus tests.

Gov. urges schools delay in-person start

On Monday, Beshear recommended delaying the start of in-person classes in Kentucky until Sept. 28. Beshear called opening schools while cases continue to rise “something that would defy logic, something that wouldn’t be safe to do.”

“Let’s be smart about this. All we’re asking for right now: one month. One month to not make mistakes with our children, their parents or their teachers," he said Wednesday.

The decision to open K-12 classrooms or keep students at home still rests with local school districts. In Northern Kentucky, Kenton County Schools, Covington Independent Public Schools and Fort Thomas Independent Schools have altered their plans and moved instruction online during the first six weeks of school

On Tuesday, the Diocese of Covington joined Lexington and Louisville in their decision to start in-person classes before September.

“I disagree with their decision, I don’t believe it’s safe. We just had 1,100 cases,” Beshear said, adding that Kentucky hasn’t had a chance to see results of the mistakes other states’ schools have had as they reopen "too early."

Aside from rising virus cases and positivity rate, Beshear said his recommendation aims to prevent interruptions that other states' school systems have seen, like the shutdowns required when coronavirus breaks out in those schools.

“If you come back for three days and then have to stop, and then have to get distance learning going, it might hurt your students even more," he said.

In addition, Beshear said some Kentucky families continue to go on beach vacations to COVID-19 hotspots in Florida and South Carolina, a factor which could further spread the virus as children return to school.

Beshear expressed concern last week that if the state's coronavirus positivity rate does not fall soon, school reopenings might be pushed back from the third week of August to a later date.

“I am for getting our kids safely back into in-person classes, even during this pandemic. It’s just getting them back at the height of the pandemic I think would be irresponsible," he said.

Travel advisory updated

On Wednesday, Beshear updated his travel advisory, which recommends a two-week self-quarantine for Kentuckians who travel to states and U.S. territories reporting a coronavirus positivity rate equal to or greater than 15%.

Those states now include Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Idaho, Nevada, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas and Washington.

Free testing in NKY this week

In Northern Kentucky, St. Elizabeth Healthcare and Covington's Gravity Diagnostics now offers free, appointment-only drive-thru testing at 25 Atlantic Ave in Erlanger. The site, the former Toyota HQ building off Mineola Pike, will be open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. You will be able to collect your own sample without leaving your vehicle and receive results within three to five days.

Additionally, appointment-only drive-up testing will be available through St. E at 7200 Alexandria Pike, Alexandria, starting Tuesday, Aug. 11. The free testing site will be open on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Schedule an appointment at those sites online at www.stelizabeth.com/covid-testing.

To find all coronavirus testing locations near you, click here.

Bars reopen with 10 p.m. service cutoff

Effective Tuesday, Beshear announced a new mandate to increase capacity for bars and restaurants to reopen at 50%, emphasizing the importance of restaurants to prioritize outdoor seating.

To reopen, bars and restaurants must observe a food and beverage service "cutoff" at 10 p.m., with establishments closing by 11 p.m.

Bars can expect to have an "enforced seating" rule, and bar patrons should expect to have an assigned seat in a bar and that they should sit in that seat unless making a trip to the restroom. All service and orders should take place at the table with the group or party that people come to the establishment with.

All employees and patrons must wear masks when not eating or drinking, and no one is allowed to congregate at the bar.

The update mirrors a similar practice mandated in Ohio at the end of July.

Watch a replay of the briefing in the player below:

Three people were killed after a wrong-way crash early Monday morning on Interstate 65 in southern Indiana, investigators said.

The crash was reported around 12:30 a.m. Monday on the interstate in southern Jackson County, according to Indiana State Police.

Investigators have since determined that 25-year-old Kaitlyn N. Schindler, of Marysville, was driving southbound in the northbound lanes of I-65 near the 39 mile-marker. State police have not determined what caused Schindler to drive the wrong way.

Schindler's 2019 Jeep Compass struck a gray 2015 Dodge Durango, driven by 26-year-old Chelsea Jo Boston, of Columbus, head-on in the northbound lanes.

Schindler and Boston died from their injuries in the crash, state police said.

Also in Boston's car were 21-year-old Tapanga Eudy, of Columbus, and Dai Von T. Coram, also of Columbus. Eudy was in the back seat and died at the scene.

Coram was air-lifted to UofL Hospital, where she has since been released.

Detectives said it's unknown if alcohol and/or drugs played a role in the crash. Toxicology results are pending and the crash remains under investigation.

Officials said the families of all those who died have been notified.

The crash site was closed for hours Monday as state police investigated.

Additional details were not released.

FRANKFORT, Ky. — After long-term care residents and healthcare workers, Kentucky plans to give COVID-19 vaccines to people age 70 and older, first responders and K-12 school personnel possibly starting in early February.

Public Health Commissioner Dr. Steven Stack said Monday that it is crucial to begin vaccinating people age 70 or older, who are most at-risk of complications due to COVID-19 and make up 75% of all COVID-19 deaths in Kentucky.

“This is clearly the population at greatest risk for serious medical needs, requiring hospitalization and intensive care unit care, and also the population at greatest risk for death,” Stack said.

Phase 1b also includes police officers and firefighters, and most emergency medical responders are already vaccinated in the first phase.

K-12 school personnel includes educators, bus drivers, custodians, housekeeping and other workers who might come in direct contact with students or school buildings. Off-site or administration personnel will have to wait to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, Stack said.

Gov. Andy Beshear said that "Phase 1a" (healthcare workers, long-term care residents and staff) will end and "Phase 1b" (people over 70, first responders, K-12 personnel) could begin around Feb. 1. Both Beshear and Stack asked Kentuckians for patience as health officials work to distribute the vaccine.

Kentucky expects to receive roughly 202,000 doses of Pfizer and Moderna's COVID-19 vaccines by the end of December. More than 26,300 doses have already been administered in hospitals and long-term care centers, and 40 additional facilities will receive some amount of vaccines by the end of this week, Beshear said.

For questions on COVID-19 vaccines and their distribution, call Kentucky's 24-hour hotline at (800) 722-5725 or visit Kentucky's vaccine webpage.

COVID-19 case numbers decreasing

At his briefing Monday, Gov. Beshear announced that numbers of new COVID-19 cases appear to be falling.

“We have certainly stopped the exponential growth, this third wave, and I believe that we've not only plateaued it, but we’re starting to see cases decrease,” Beshear said.

Beshear reported 1,455 new cases and eight coronavirus-related deaths on Monday. Since March, 258,517 COVID-19 cases and 2,563 virus-related deaths have been reported in Kentucky. Holiday lab closures and an AT&T outage caused by an RV bombing in Nashville may have affected case reporting, as those labs enter new cases using the internet, Beshear said.

Beshear added that reported deaths may remain high as they lag weeks behind last fall's exponential case growth. He also recognized the "sacrifices" Kentucky businesses made to slow the spread of COVID-19 cases.

“Those sacrifices were not in vain, as the rest of the country sees continuing increases in cases, as the rest of the country sees runs out of ICU beds and hospital beds," the governor said. "At this moment, we’ve stopped that from happening in Kentucky, but we can let this success go. We’ve gotta keep it up -- otherwise we can be back very quickly to a more dangerous place."

Hospitalizations remained high Monday, with 1,552 Kentuckians currently hospitalized for COVID-19, 411 people in intensive care units and 217 on ventilators.

Kentucky's COVID-19 test positivity rate has fallen to 7.97% on Monday. The state's fatality rate, the proportion of people who die out of people who test positive for the virus, hovers at 0.97%.

Using the state's contact tracing database, NKY Health reports 2,407 active coronavirus cases in Boone, Campbell, Grant and Kenton counties, and 19,579 people have recovered from the virus as of Monday. Since the pandemic began, 164 Northern Kentuckians have died from the virus.

Where to get tested for free in NKY

St. Elizabeth Healthcare and Covington's Gravity Diagnostics offer free, appointment-only drive-thru testing at 25 Atlantic Ave in Erlanger, the former Toyota HQ building off Mineola Pike.

The site is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. You will be able to collect your own sample without leaving your vehicle and receive results within three to five days.

Additionally, appointment-only drive-up testing is available through St. E at 7200 Alexandria Pike, Alexandria. The free testing site is open on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Schedule an appointment at those sites online at www.stelizabeth.com/covid-testing. To find all coronavirus testing locations near you, click here.

Watch a replay of Monday's briefing in the player below:

FRANKFORT, Ky. — At his final COVID-19 briefing of 2020, Gov. Andy Beshear again asked Kentuckians to keep their New Year's celebrations small, especially as the state is seeing the number of new coronavirus cases decreasing.

“2021 is the year we’re going to beat COVID-19, but to do that, I need everybody -- everybody -- to keep their New Year’s Eve gathering small,” he said Tuesday.

Beshear announced that he has renewed Kentucky’s mask mandate for another 30 days effective Jan. 2, and he also extended Kentucky’s eviction moratorium through Jan. 31.

"I need people to try, for them to do their duty. I need business owners to enforce this (mask mandate). Restaurants and bars, part of being able to operate in a pandemic that spreads when people take their masks off. Is to make people wear them every moment they're not eating or drinking," Beshear said.

A third order allowing pharmacists to dispense emergency refills of up to a 30-day supply of non-scheduled medications was also extended.

The governor reported 2,990 new cases, down from last week, and 31 coronavirus-related deaths on Tuesday, including an 88-year-old woman from Boone County. Beshear said the higher number of deaths lag behind the case numbers from exponential case growth seen in late fall.

Since March, 261,492 COVID-19 cases and 2,594 virus-related deaths have been reported in Kentucky.

Hospitalizations increased Tuesday, with 1,635 Kentuckians currently hospitalized for COVID-19, 380 people in intensive care units and 211 on ventilators.

Kentucky's COVID-19 test positivity rate rose slightly to 8.41% on Tuesday. The state's fatality rate, the proportion of people who die out of people who test positive for the virus, hovers at 0.99%.

Using the state's contact tracing database, NKY Health reports 2,317 active coronavirus cases in Boone, Campbell, Grant and Kenton counties, and 19,915 people have recovered from the virus as of Tuesday. Since the pandemic began, 165 Northern Kentuckians have died from the virus.

Federal relief coming to KY

The latest federal COVID-19 relief bill includes $600 payments to individuals, equating to roughly $2.2 billion for Kentuckians. If Congress's latest effort to secure $2,000 payments for individuals is approved, Beshear said that could send about $5 billion more to Kentucky residents.

Beshear said nearly $297 million is expected for eviction relief and utility relief. Eligible unemployed Kentuckians can expect an additional $300 per week assistance for 11 weeks, about $489 million total.

The relief bill also includes education, transportation, and family and senior program funding. There is no timeline yet for distributing payments to individuals or the state receiving these funds.

"We hope while there will be a lot of use this year, that we'll see significant dollars to remediation," Beshear said. "Catching kids up that have fallen behind during the pandemic."

Who gets the COVID-19 vaccine next?

After long-term care residents and healthcare workers, Kentucky plans to give COVID-19 vaccines to people age 70 and older, first responders and K-12 school personnel possibly starting in early February.

"Phase 1a" (healthcare workers, long-term care residents and staff) will end and "Phase 1b" (people over 70, first responders, K-12 personnel) could begin around Feb. 1, Beshear said.

Phase 1b also includes police officers and firefighters, while most emergency medical responders will already be vaccinated in the first phase. K-12 school personnel includes those who come in contact with students or school buildings. Off-site or administration personnel will have to wait to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.

Kentucky expects to receive roughly 202,000 doses of Pfizer and Moderna's COVID-19 vaccines by the end of December, with just under 54,000 expected to arrive the first week of January. Nearly 29,000 doses have already been administered in hospitals and long-term care centers, and 40 more facilities will receive some amount of vaccines by the end of this week.

For questions on COVID-19 vaccines and their distribution, call Kentucky's 24-hour hotline at (800) 722-5725 or visit Kentucky's vaccine webpage.

Where to get tested for free in NKY

St. Elizabeth Healthcare and Covington's Gravity Diagnostics offer free, appointment-only drive-thru testing at 25 Atlantic Ave in Erlanger, the former Toyota HQ building off Mineola Pike.

The site is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. You will be able to collect your own sample without leaving your vehicle and receive results within three to five days.

Additionally, appointment-only drive-up testing is available through St. E at 7200 Alexandria Pike, Alexandria. The free testing site is open on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Schedule an appointment at those sites online at www.stelizabeth.com/covid-testing. To find all coronavirus testing locations near you, click here.

Watch a replay of the briefing in the player below:

Video above: Johns Hopkins experts cautiously optimistic amid downward COVID-19 trendsIt’s a milestone that by all accounts didn’t have to happen this soon.The U.S. death toll from COVID-19 eclipsed 700,000 late Friday — a number greater than the population of Boston. The last 100,000 deaths occurred during a time when vaccines — which overwhelmingly prevent deaths, hospitalizations and serious illness — were available to any American over the age of 12.The milestone is deeply frustrating to doctors, public health officials and the American public, who watched a pandemic that had been easing earlier in the summer take a dark turn. Tens of millions of Americans have refused to get vaccinated, allowing the highly contagious delta variant to tear through the country and send the death toll from 600,000 to 700,000 in 3 1/2 months.Florida suffered by far the most death of any state during that period, with the virus killing about 17,000 residents since the middle of June. Texas was second with 13,000 deaths. The two states account for 15% of the country's population, but more than 30% of the nation's deaths since the nation crossed the 600,000 threshold.Dr. David Dowdy, an infectious disease epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health who has analyzed publicly reported state data, said it's safe to say at least 70,000 of the last 100,000 deaths were in unvaccinated people. And of those vaccinated people who died with breakthrough infections, most caught the virus from an unvaccinated person, he said.“If we had been more effective in our vaccination, then I think it’s fair to say, we could have prevented 90% of those deaths,” since mid-June, Dowdy said.“It’s not just a number on a screen,” Dowdy said. “It’s tens of thousands of these tragic stories of people whose families have lost someone who means the world to them."Danny Baker is one of them.The 28-year-old seed hauler from Riley, Kansas, contracted COVID-19 over the summer, spent more than a month in the hospital and died Sept. 14. He left behind a wife and a 7-month-old baby girl.“This thing has taken a grown man, 28-year-old young man, 6′2″, 300-pound man, and took him down like it was nothing,” said his father, 56-year-old J.D. Baker, of Milford, Kansas. “And so if young people think that they’re still ... protected because of their youth and their strength, it’s not there anymore.”In the early days of the pandemic, Danny Baker, who was a championship trap shooter in high school and loved hunting and fishing, insisted he would be first in line for a vaccine, recalled his mother.But just as vaccinations opened up to his age group, the U.S. recommended a pause in use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to investigate reports of rare but potentially dangerous blood clots. The news frightened him, as did information swirling online that the vaccine could harm fertility, though medical experts say there’s no biological reason the shots would affect fertility.His wife also was breastfeeding, so they decided to wait. Health experts now say breastfeeding mothers should get the vaccine for their own protection and that it may even provide some protection for their babies through antibodies passed along in breastmilk.“There’s just a lot of miscommunication about the vaccine,” said his wife, 27-year-old Aubrea Baker, a labor and delivery nurse, adding that her husband's death inspired a Facebook page and at least 100 people to get vaccinated. “It’s not that we weren’t going to get it. We just hadn’t gotten it yet.”When deaths surpassed 600,000 in mid-June, vaccinations already were driving down caseloads, restrictions were being lifted and people looked forward to life returning to normal over the summer. Deaths per day in the U.S. had plummeted to an average of around 340, from a high of over 3,000 in mid-January. Soon afterward, health officials declared it a pandemic of the unvaccinated.But as the delta variant swept the country, caseloads and deaths soared — especially among the unvaccinated and younger people, with hospitals around the country reporting dramatic increases in admissions and deaths among people under 65. They also reported breakthrough infections and deaths, though at far lower rates, prompting efforts to provide booster shots to vulnerable Americans.Now, daily deaths are averaging about 1,900 a day. Cases have started to fall from their highs in September but there is fear that the situation could worsen in the winter months when colder weather drives people inside.Almost 65% of Americans have had at least one dose of vaccine, while about 56% are fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.But millions are either refusing or still on the fence because of fear, misinformation and political beliefs. Health care workers report being threatened by patients and community members who don't believe COVID-19 is real.The first known deaths from the virus in the U.S. were in early February 2020. It took four months to reach the first 100,000 deaths. During the most lethal phase of the disaster, in the winter of 2020-21, it took just over a month to go from 300,000 to 400,000 deaths.The U.S. reached 500,000 deaths in mid-February, when the country was still in the midst of the winter surge and vaccines were only available to a limited number of people. The death toll stood about 570,000 in April when every adult American became eligible for shots.“I remember when we broke that 100,000-death mark, people just shook their heads and said ‘Oh, my god,’” said Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association. “Then we said, ‘Are we going to get to 200,000?’ Then we kept looking at 100,000-death marks,” and finally surpassed the estimated 675,000 American deaths from the 1918-19 flu pandemic.“And we’re not done yet,” Benjamin said.The deaths during the delta surge have been unrelenting in hotspots in the South. Almost 79 people out of every 100,000 people in Florida have died of COVID since mid-June, the highest rate in the nation.Amanda Alexander, a COVID-19 ICU nurse at Georgia’s Augusta University Medical Center, said Thursday that she'd had a patient die on each of her previous three shifts.“I’ve watched a 20-year-old die. I’ve watched 30-year-olds, 40-year-olds,” with no pre-existing conditions that would have put them at greater risk, she said. “Ninety-nine percent of our patients are unvaccinated. And it’s just so frustrating because the facts just don’t lie and we’re seeing it every day.”___Associated Press Medical Writer Carla K. Johnson and data journalist Justin Myers contributed to this story.

As the U.S. ushered in 2021, more than 125,300 COVID-19 patients remained hospitalized — another record for the fourth day in a row.

The high count is a grim reminder that even with 2020 behind us, the pandemic continues to ravage parts of the country.

And some local leaders warn the worst is still ahead. "We are still going to have our toughest and darkest days," Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti told CNN.

Los Angeles County, as well as the state of California, have battled brutal surges of infections, hospitalizations and deaths in the past weeks, all driven in part by Thanksgiving gatherings, health officials said. Surging hospitalizations in the county are pushing hospitals to the "brink of catastrophe," said Dr. Christina Ghaly, Los Angeles County Health Services director.

In Georgia, Gov. Brian Kemp said a convention center will begin accepting patients at the end of this week and will have an additional 60 beds to "help ensure that our hospitals continue to have the capacity they need for COVID and non-COVID patients."

Arizona health officials say the number of new cases remains high, with hospitalization and death tallies also increasing.

"Even without COVID-19, winter is an especially busy season for hospitals. Amid this pandemic and the surge in cases, more than 90% of intensive care unit beds are in use this week, with more than half of those beds occupied by COVID-19 patients," Dr. Cara Christ, director of the Arizona Department of Health Services, said in a video message posted to Twitter.

And experts have warned the grim numbers could climb further nationwide in the coming weeks — a swells stemming from the gatherings and travels that took place over the holidays.

Despite repeated calls from both local and state leaders for people to celebrate with only members of their household, millions of Americans opted to spend time away from home. On Wednesday, the Transportation Security Administration reported its fourth-busiest day of the pandemic, screening more than a million people for the fifth straight day.

How vaccine distributions are going

Vaccinations are ongoing across the country but experts say it will be months before vaccines are widespread enough to turn the course of the pandemic.

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards on Thursday announced doses of the COVID-19 vaccine will be available to pharmacies in limited supply starting Jan. 4 to be administered to people who are 70 and older as well health care workers.

The initial supply, the governor's office said, will be "extremely limited and people must contact a designated pharmacy to make appointments before going in to be vaccinated."

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Thursday he hoped the city can administer a million doses by the end of January.

"Like any good New Year's resolution, one million doses by the end of January is an ambitious goal to say the least," he said. "We are doing everything we can to vaccinate as many New Yorkers as possible, but to really pick up the pace, we need our federal and state partners on board — and fast. It will be tough, but I believe that we can do it."

As distribution expands to the general public, the mayor said that the vaccine will be available to hard-hit neighborhoods first.

So far, more than 12.4 million vaccine doses have been distributed nationwide and more than 2.7 million have been administered. The roll-out has been slower than many officials expected, but if the U.S. is able to "catch up" in 2021, widespread vaccination could be possible starting in April, Dr. Anthony Fauci said.

"Let's say in April, it will be what I call "open season," namely, anybody who wants to get vaccinated can get vaccinated," Fauci said. "If we then diligently vaccinate people in April, May, June, July, then we will gradually and noticeably get a degree of protection approaching herd immunity."

By the time early fall rolls around, Fauci said, "we will have enough good herd immunity to be able to really get back to some strong semblance of normality."

Florida has evidence of UK variant case

Meanwhile, more states are now beginning to report cases of the Covid-19 variant that was first detected in the U.K.

Florida health officials announced the state has evidence of the first case of the variant in a man in his 20s with no history of travel.

"The Department is working with the CDC on this investigation. We encourage all to continue practicing Covid-19 mitigation," the state's health department wrote on Twitter.

California health officials also said earlier this week the variant was detected in a 30-year-old San Diego man, who is not hospitalized and had very few social interactions during his potential contagious period.

The first known case of the variant in the U.S. was identified in Colorado, in a man in his 20s who has no travel history.

But experts have said they expect there are likely many more cases across the country that have just not been detected.

"An unknown travel history means that this person picked it up the community," Dr. Atul Gawande, a member of the Biden-Harris transition Covid-19 advisory board, previously told CNN.

"If this mutation, this mutated virus, which is more contagious, is not widespread yet and beginning to spread, that means it will be even more important to follow the approaches we know work," he said.

Some governors are beginning to report encouraging signs in their state's COVID-19 numbers, but warn of what could come next if more people don't get vaccinated.

COVID-19 hospitalizations and ICU utilization have decreased over the past week in Kentucky, Gov. Andy Beshear announced at a Thursday news conference.

"We are in a decline and we hope it continues for people hospitalized because of COVID," the governor said.

"This is more people getting vaccinated. This is more people wearing their masks. Keep it up," Beshear added, warning COVID-19 hospitalization and ICU numbers in the state are still very high and could tick back up.

Also Thursday, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan announced the state's COVID-19 positivity rate has dropped 20% in the past month and hospitalizations are down 60% from their peak. On the same day, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said that while the state has seen a "significant decline in cases, hospitalizations and percent positive tests" in the past weeks, there could be another surge soon.

"Today, I want to emphasize the importance of not waiting until the next wave of COVID cases to get vaccinated," Kemp said. "Given that our increase in cases and hospitalizations in 2021 were similar in timing to surges seen in 2020, we can only assume that a winter increase is also possible."

Across the U.S., the rate of new COVID-19 deaths is expected to decrease over the next four weeks, according to an ensemble forecast from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And for the third week in a row, Wednesday's CDC forecast predicted hospitalizations will decrease as well — a bit of hope as the more transmissible Delta variant continues to spread.

But currently, an average of nearly 2,000 people die and about 114,000 people are infected with COVID-19 every day, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

"We're going to lose a bunch more people," West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice said at a news briefing Wednesday. "All I can possibly do, with a good conscience, is continue to urge you, in every way, to get vaccinated."

Roughly 55.5% of the U.S. population is fully vaccinated, according to the CDC. Health experts can't say for sure what proportion of the population would need to be vaccinated to control the spread, but Dr. Anthony Fauci estimates that it would have to be the "vast majority."

Officials and experts are employing multiple strategies to try to increase vaccination protection.

Schools, businesses and employers have implemented mandates for students and employees to be vaccinated against the virus. And the FDA has authorized booster doses to increase vaccine protection for vulnerable populations.

About a third of parents say they'd vaccinate kids ages 5-11 right away, poll finds

Meanwhile, a slightly increasing proportion of parents may be open to children ages 5-11 getting a COVID-19 vaccine as soon as one is available to them, according to a new Kaiser Family Foundation poll.

No COVID-19 vaccine is yet authorized for ages under 12 in the U.S. But both Pfizer and Moderna have been testing various doses of their COVID-19 vaccines in children under 12, and health experts have said one could be authorized for ages 5-11 later this fall if multiple federal agencies sign off.

In a Kaiser poll published Thursday, about 34% parents of children 5-11 said they would vaccinate their child as soon as a COVID-19 vaccine became available for that age group.

That's up from 26% who said the same thing in a July poll, the foundation said. About 32% of September's respondents said they would wait to see how the vaccine was working, against 40% who said the same thing in July.

The percentage of parents saying they definitely wouldn't seek the vaccine for their child this age group, however, has barely moved. About 24% of respondents said this in September, versus 25% in July, Kaiser said.

About 7% in September said they'd allow their child to get the vaccine only if required, against 9% who said the same in July.

Kaiser noted that the bulk of the interviews for September's poll happened before Pfizer announced on Sept. 20 that its COVID-19 vaccine was safe and generated a "robust" antibody response in children ages 5-11. Pfizer is now submitting that data to the FDA ahead of anticipated attempt to seek the agency's authorization for vaccinating this age group.

The latest Kaiser poll was conducted Sept. 13-22.

Vaccine deadline in effect for California health care workers

On the local and federal level, officials are implementing vaccination mandates to increase protection.

In California, Sept. 30 was the deadline for health care facility workers to complete a COVID-19 vaccination series — unless they receive an exemption — to keep working.

The deadline included anyone who works at a health care facility, including hospitals, long- and intermediate-care facilities and doctor offices and clinics.

Under an order issued Aug. 5, the state health department ordered workers to have a second dose of a two-dose mRNA COVID-19 vaccine, or a single shot of the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine, by Sept. 30.

The order allowed workers to ask for exemptions based on religious beliefs or qualifying medical reasons. Anyone granted an exemption was required to submit to regular COVID-19 testing: Twice a week for workers in acute health care and long-term care settings, and once weekly for workers in other health care settings.

Earlier this month, President Joe Biden announced stringent new vaccine rules on federal workers, large employers and health care staff in a sweeping attempt to contain COVID-19.

He directed the Labor Department to require all businesses with 100 or more employees ensure their workers are either vaccinated or tested once a week. Companies could face thousands of dollars in fines per employee if they don't comply.

Biden also said he would require the 17 million health care workers at facilities receiving funds from Medicare and Medicaid to be fully vaccinated, expanding the mandate to hospitals, home care facilities and dialysis centers around the country.

Those requirements are still weeks away from being implemented, but employers should expect them to come this year, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday.

New York state ordered staff at hospitals and long-term care facilities to receive at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose by last week, unless they received exemptions for medical or religious reasons. Some employees are already facing the consequences of not complying.

The St. Barnabas Hospital Health System had 58 employees who failed to show proof of vaccination as of Wednesday, spokesman Steve Clark said. The employees were suspended and have until Monday morning to show proof of vaccination. If they don't, they'll be terminated, Clark said.

"Patient care has not been compromised at all," Clark said. "Schedules have been created accordingly. People will work overtime, or part-timers or agency personnel will be brought in when necessary."

No health care facility in the state has closed as a result of any staffing shortages resulting from people not complying with the vaccine requirements, Gov. Kathy Hochul said Thursday.

As of Monday evening, 92% of nursing home staff, 89% of adult care facilities staff, and 92% of hospital staff had received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose, the governor's office said.

New York officials are looking into expanding the vaccine requirement to health care workers at facilities that are not regulated state health department, such as prisons, Hochul said.

For the first time since June, the rate of new COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. is expected to decrease over the next four weeks, according to an ensemble forecast from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

And for the third week in a row, Wednesday's CDC forecast predicted that hospitalizations will decrease as well — a bit of hope as the more transmissible delta variant continues to spread.

Currently, an average of nearly 2,000 people die and about 114,000 people are infected with COVID-19 every day, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Dr. Scott Gottlieb, a former U.S. Food and Drug Administration commissioner, estimated that the delta wave of the pandemic could run its course by Thanksgiving, and COVID-19 could eventually become more of a seasonal nuisance than a devastating pandemic. But Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said that is dependent on getting a lot more people vaccinated.

Of the entire U.S. population, 55.5% are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the CDC. Health experts can't say for sure what proportion of the population would need to be vaccinated to control the spread, but Fauci estimates that it would have to be the "vast majority."

Officials and experts are employing multiple strategies to try to increase vaccination protection.

Schools, businesses and employers have implemented mandates for students and employees to be vaccinated against the virus. And the FDA has authorized booster doses to increase vaccine protection for vulnerable populations.

Health experts are also waiting for Pfizer to request an emergency use authorization for a vaccine to protect children ages 5 to 11. While some parents are eager to have their children vaccinated, others are still hesitant.

Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, said he understands the concern and urged parents to "wait until they see the data before they make a decision about getting the vaccine."

Many health experts are hopeful more people will decide to get vaccinated as some regions strain to keep up with cases.

Alaska's Yukon-Koshokwim Health Corporation announced Wednesday that it was preparing for the possibility of rationing services under Crisis Standards of Care due to a surge in COVID-19.

"We're doing the best for every single patient, regardless of what resources are available at any given time," chief of staff Dr. Ellen Hodges said in a written statement. "Unfortunately, however, as a result of the current surge in COVID-19 cases requiring hospitalization and limited resources statewide, we are now in a position of making these difficult decisions on a daily basis."

West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice said Wednesday that he believes the state is in the "eye of the storm," and urged residents to get vaccinated to help decrease the surge.

"We're gonna lose a bunch more people, West Virginia, no question about that," said Justice during a Wednesday COVID-19 briefing. "All I can possibly do, with a good conscience, is continue to urge you, in every way, to get vaccinated."

CDC urges pregnant people to get vaccinated

Some have been concerned over whether people who are pregnant or looking to become pregnant are safe to be vaccinated, but the CDC made an urgent recommendation Wednesday for them to be inoculated.

People who are pregnant, have recently given birth, are planning to become pregnant or are breastfeeding should be vaccinated, the CDC said.

"CDC strongly recommends COVID-19 vaccination either before or during pregnancy because the benefits of vaccination outweigh known or potential risks," the agency said in a health alert.

"As of September 27, 2021, more than 125,000 laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases have been reported in pregnant people, including more than 22,000 hospitalized cases and 161 deaths."

The risk is not just to the mother. COVID-19 in pregnancy can cause preterm birth or babies born so sick they have to go straight to the neonatal intensive care unit, or NICU.

"Other adverse pregnancy outcomes, such as stillbirth, have been reported," the CDC said.

"Pregnancy can be both a special time and also a stressful time — and pregnancy during a pandemic is an added concern for families. I strongly encourage those who are pregnant or considering pregnancy to talk with their healthcare provider about the protective benefits of the COVID-19 vaccine to keep their babies and themselves safe," CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said in a statement.

Vaccine mandates going into effect

On the local and federal level, officials are implementing vaccination mandates to increase protection.

Earlier this month, President Joe Biden announced stringent new vaccine rules on federal workers, large employers and health care staff in a sweeping attempt to contain the latest surge of COVID-19.

He directed the Labor Department to require all businesses with 100 or more employees ensure their workers are either vaccinated or tested once a week. Companies could face thousands of dollars in fines per employee if they don't comply.

Those requirements are still weeks away from being implemented, but employers should expect them to come this year, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday.

Employees of New York's hospital system are mandated to be vaccinated against the virus, and some employees are already facing the consequences of not complying.

The St. Barnabas Hospital Health System had 58 employees who have failed to show proof of vaccination as of Wednesday, spokesman Steve Clark said.

The employees are suspended and have until Monday morning to show proof of vaccination. If they don't, they'll be terminated, said Clark.

"Patient care has not been compromised at all," Clark said. "Schedules have been created accordingly. People will work overtime, or part-timers or agency personnel will be brought in when necessary."

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana health officials reported 106 additional COVID-19 deaths and 6,407 new coronavirus infections Friday as the state’s coronavirus-related hospitalizations continued to decline following a series of spikes during December.

The newly confirmed deaths, which occurred over several days, raised Indiana’s pandemic toll to 8,371, including both confirmed and presumed infections, the Indiana State Department of Health said.

The new COVID-19 infections boosted the number of Indiana residents known to have had the coronavirus to 517,773.

As of Thursday, 2,786 Hoosiers were hospitalized with COVID-19 at Indiana’s hospitals — 56 fewer patients than were hospitalized as of Wednesday. Thursday’s tally is a 19% decrease from the state’s hospitalization peak in early December, according to the state health department’s online dashboard.

Nearly 76,000 Hoosiers had received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine as of Tuesday morning, but more than 110,000 additional Indiana residents had appointments scheduled through Monday to get their shots.

Gov. Eric Holcomb and top health officials have called for patience as the early doses of vaccine against COVID-19 are administered to health care workers and residents inside long-term care facilities.

FRANKFORT, Ky. — Kentucky unveiled the rest of its plan to vaccinate its citizens against COVID-19 on Monday.

The state is still working to vaccinate long-term care residents and staff as well as frontline healthcare workers in "Phase 1a." People age 70 and older, first responders and K-12 school personnel will be vaccinated next in "Phase 1b," and that could start by February.

Kentucky unveiled its remaining vaccine phases on Monday: 1c includes anyone age 60 and older, anyone 16 and older with a high-risk medical condition, and all essential workers; Phase 2 includes anyone over age 40; Phase 3 includes anyone older than 16; Phase 4 includes children under 16, provided that the FDA approves a vaccine for children.

Gov. Andy Beshear on Monday expressed his dissatisfaction with how fast Kentucky, along with the rest of the country, is currently distributing initial shipments of COVID-19 vaccines.

Kentucky was allocated about 202,000 COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna in December, with another 57,000 doses expected to arrive early this week. As of Sunday, Kentucky has administered about 60,400 vaccines.

“I’m not OK with the pace at which they are currently being provided," the governor said.

Going forward, Public Health Commissioner Dr. Steven Stack said Kentucky hopes to administer 90% of all vaccines received within seven days of arrival, and to vaccinate "more than half of every interested Kentuckian" by June.

To do this, Kentucky will allow vaccination sites to give shots to patients in lower tiers if those sites have no upper-tier vaccinations scheduled. This is to make sure all vaccines are used in a more efficient manner, Stack said.

"We're still going to prioritize and start at the top of the pyramid every week. We're going to ask every site, schedule your vaccine for people who are at the highest tiers, but the goal is not to have it wait and hang over until the next week. It's to administer it, use it, and then when you get the next shipment, start over again," Stack said.

Health officials are still working on vaccination site plans, locations and an appointment scheduling system, Stack said.

COVID-19 positivity rate jumps

Kentucky's COVID-19 positivity rate rose to 11.18% Monday, up from 8.41% last week. Beshear attributed the "concerning" jump in virus positivity to more asymptomatic cases and cases spreading at Christmas gatherings, though it is still too early to tell if New Year's gatherings will have a similar effect.

The governor reported 2,319 new coronavirus cases and 26 virus-related deaths on Monday, including two people from Boone County, four women and a man from Campbell County, two men in Grant County, and seven people from Kenton County.

Since March, 279,143 COVID-19 cases and 2,749 virus-related deaths have been reported in Kentucky.

Hospitalizations increased Monday, with 1,737 Kentuckians currently hospitalized for COVID-19, 456 people in intensive care units and 216 on ventilators.

The state's coronavirus fatality rate, the proportion of people who die out of people who test positive for the virus, remains at 0.99%.

Using the state's contact tracing database, NKY Health reports 2,728 active coronavirus cases in Boone, Campbell, Grant and Kenton counties, and 21,306 people have recovered from the virus as of Monday. Since the pandemic began, 167 Northern Kentuckians have died from the virus.

Watch a replay of the briefing in the player below:

FRANKFORT, Ky. — Officials in Kentucky announced that efforts to identify positive COVID-19 cases and contacts may have prevented the virus from spreading to roughly 54,000 Kentuckians.

Mark Carter, the Cabinet for Health and Family Services advisor who has spearheaded Kentucky's contact tracing efforts, estimates that quarantining and contact tracing have prevented more than 2,000 hospitalizations and 400 deaths.

Contact tracing, which identifies people who may have been in contact with a person infected with COVID-19, began in Kentucky last May.

Through Kentucky's process, about 167,000 people who tested COVID-positive successfully isolated, and nearly one-third of those people were contacted within 24 hours of a positive test result. About 57% of all Kentuckians who were potentially exposed successfully quarantined, Carter said.

Due to data limitations, Carter said Tuesday's figures are a conservative estimate. Carter explained that the reasons behind those limitations include decentralized public health systems, delayed adoption of contact tracing by local health departments, lack of surge support, underreported cases and contacts as well as politicization of contact tracing.

Carter said the state has added about 1,200 contact tracing staff over the last seven months, with 60 local health departments using the state's contact tracing system. With a $78 million budget from federal funds, these efforts have spent $47.7 million so far.

Virus positivity rate rising in Kentucky

Gov. Andy Beshear reported 1,781 new COVID-19 cases, the lowest Tuesday number in several weeks, as well as 23 virus-related deaths statewide. Tuesday's report included a 95-year-old woman from Kenton County.

Kentucky's COVID-19 positivity rate rose again to 11.36% Tuesday, up from 8.41% last week. Beshear attributed the "concerning" jump in virus positivity to more asymptomatic cases and cases spreading at Christmas gatherings, though it is still too early to tell if New Year's gatherings will have a similar effect.

Despite the surging positivity rate, the governor said Kentucky's K-12 schools should still be able to resume in-person classes on Monday, as long as they follow the executive order on capacity and accommodations for at-risk staff.

Since March, 280,836 COVID-19 cases and 2,772 virus-related deaths have been reported in Kentucky.

Hospitalizations increased Tuesday, with 1,760 Kentuckians currently hospitalized for COVID-19, 430 people in intensive care units and 215 on ventilators. The state's coronavirus fatality rate, the proportion of people who die out of people who test positive for the virus, sits at 0.98%.

Using the state's contact tracing database, NKY Health reports 2,788 active coronavirus cases in Boone, Campbell, Grant and Kenton counties, and 21,506 people have recovered from the virus as of Tuesday. Since the pandemic began, 167 Northern Kentuckians have died from the virus.

Who's next in line for vaccines?

Kentucky expects to work through the end of January to finish vaccinating long-term care residents and staff as well as frontline health care workers in "Phase 1a." People age 70 and older, first responders and K-12 school personnel will be vaccinated next in "Phase 1b," and that could start by February.

The state announced the remaining vaccine phases Monday: Phase 1c includes anyone age 60 and older, anyone 16 and older with a high-risk medical condition, and all essential workers; Phase 2 includes anyone over age 40; Phase 3 includes anyone older than 16; Phase 4 includes children under 16, provided that the FDA approves a vaccine for children.

"I want to get this vaccine to all of you who want it as quickly as we can. I wish I could tell you it’s going to be tomorrow, but we’re going to make it happen," Beshear said Tuesday.

Kentucky was allocated about 202,000 COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna in December, with another 101,000 doses expected to arrive in the first two weeks of January.

As of Tuesday, Kentucky has administered about 66,500 first vaccine doses. To be fully vaccinated, patients must receive an initial dose followed by a booster dose weeks later.

Public Health Commissioner Dr. Steven Stack said sites will be asked to administer 90% of all vaccines received within seven days of arrival, and to vaccinate "more than half of every interested Kentuckian" by June. To do this, Kentucky will allow vaccination sites to give shots to patients in lower tiers if those sites have no upper-tier vaccinations scheduled.

Health officials are still working on vaccination site plans, locations and an appointment scheduling system, Stack said.

Watch a replay of the briefing in the player below:

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — More than 8,000 Kentuckians have died from COVID-19, Gov. Andy Beshear announced Friday, calling the new record “another grim milestone.”

“These are a lot of grieving families, and it looks like the coming weeks are going to be really hard,” Beshear said in a video posted to social media.

The Bluegrass state reported 32 new virus-related deaths Friday, including the loss of a 19-year-old. Per capita, the state’s death toll is the 30th-highest in the nation, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

The fast-spreading delta variant continues to surge throughout the state, with Kentucky recording 5,197 more coronavirus cases Friday. Some 2,541 Kentuckians are currently hospitalized with COVID-19.

The state’s test positivity rate is 14.00%, an alarmingly high rate that indicates that the virus is widespread.

Friday’s state report said that 193 intensive care beds are available statewide, up from 90 on Thursday.

Beshear pleaded with the state’s residents to get vaccinated, insisting that it was one of the best ways to prevent more hospitalizations and deaths from the virus, in addition to masking.

“Please wear a mask when you’re outside of the home, but otherwise indoors. This is killing a lot of people, and we can prevent it,” he added.

Kentucky’s education department will use up to $8.8 million in federal pandemic relief funding to reward school employees with a one-time $100 payment for getting vaccinated against COVID-19.

The federal money will be used to reimburse Kentucky school districts choosing to offer the incentive to employees who get fully vaccinated, the department said Friday.

All full- and part-time public school district employees are eligible. The incentive applies to employees already vaccinated as well as those who receive full vaccinations by Dec. 1. There’s enough funding to reimburse districts for payments to about 88,000 employees.

“Getting people vaccinated is one of the main ways we’re going to be able to get out of this pandemic and get back into our classrooms as usual,” Education Commissioner Jason Glass said. “We hope this will encourage people to get vaccinated in order to protect their students, colleagues and themselves.”

Districts must first pay employees to receive the reimbursement, the department said.

The incentive program was announced a day after the Republican-led legislature ended a statewide mask mandate for K-12 public schools. The state school board issued the emergency mask regulation last month. The delta variant has forced dozens of school districts to close classrooms because of COVID-19 outbreaks.

Roughly 70% of Kentucky adults have received at least a first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — The rate of positive coronavirus tests dropped Friday in Kentucky to its lowest point in more than a month, Gov. Andy Beshear announced.

The positivity rate was 8.16%, the lowest since Dec. 28, Beshear said in a news release. The figure was below 9% for the eighth straight day.

Beshear reported 2,261 new cases and 50 deaths. A total of 3,971 people have died from the virus in Kentucky since the pandemic began.

With the Super Bowl approaching on Sunday, Beshear urged people to keep gatherings small and safe.

“No matter who you’re rooting for on Sunday, let’s make sure we hold on to our progress against this virus as Team Kentucky,” he said. “We’ve already vaccinated 10% of our population and every day we get closer to the finish line we’ve all been waiting for. Hang in there and do what it takes to protect each other a little bit longer.”

MILLCREEK, Utah — Four skiers are dead after an avalanche in Millcreek Canyon, which is in the Salt Lake City area.

The Unified Police Department of Greater Salt Lake said it received a "faint" distress call around 11:40 a.m. Saturday. Despite poor cell phone reception in the area, officers were able to determine that the slide happened in the Wilson Glade area of Wilson Fork. It is also near Alexander Basin and Gobblers Knob.

UPD later confirmed that four of the skiers were dead and four others were alive. All eight had avalanche beacons.

The medical status of the survivors was not immediately available, but officials say they were able to dig themselves out. The surviving skiers were also able to locate and dig out the other four, but they had already died.

Search and rescue teams from several agencies are working to recover the bodies in a way that will not further endanger crews from getting caught in another avalanche.

“We are heartbroken over the tragic news of four fatalities as the result of an avalanche in the Millcreek Canyon area this afternoon," Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson wrote in a statement. "We deeply mourn the loss of life due to this devastating incident.”

The incident is the first deadly avalanche in Salt Lake County this winter season. There were two others last month in the Park City backcountry: a skier in the Square Top area and a snowboarder in Dutch Draw, respectively.

Gov. Spencer Cox also issued a statement, writing on Twitter:

The Utah Avalanche Center reports that an avalanche was remotely triggered in the same general area just one day prior. Nobody was caught in it.

UPD says Millcreek Canyon is closed to recreation at least through Sunday, but restaurants and businesses in the canyon will still be open.

The victims' names have not yet been released, and the survivors' medical status is not known at this time.

This story was originally published by Jonah Napoli, Spencer Burt and Spencer Joseph at KSTU.

A young mother had just celebrated her first wedding anniversary and was one of six members of a Jacksonville church to die over a 10-day span.

Another Florida woman had just given birth to her first child but was only able to hold the newborn girl for a few moments before dying.

A California man died a few weeks shy of his 53rd birthday while his wife was on a ventilator at the same hospital in Oakland, unaware of his passing on Aug. 4.

The COVID-19 death toll has started soaring again as the delta variant tears through the nation's unvaccinated population and fills up hospitals with patients, many of whom are younger than during earlier phases of the pandemic.

The U.S. is now averaging about 650 deaths a day, increasing more than 80% from two weeks ago and going past the 600 mark on Saturday for the first time in three months.

Data on the age and demographics of victims during the delta surge is still limited, but hospitals in virus hotspots say they are clearly seeing more admissions and deaths among people under the age of 65.

Florida hospital officials are seeing an influx of young, healthy adults filling their wards across the state, many requiring oxygen. In the past week in Florida, 36% of the deaths occurred in the under-65 population, compared with 17% in the same week last year when the state was experiencing a similar COVID surge. Florida is the national leader in coronavirus deaths, averaging more than 150 a day in the past week.

The younger patients mark a shift from the elderly and frail, many living in nursing homes, who succumbed to the virus a year ago before states made seniors a priority to get inoculated first. More than 90% of seniors have had at least one shot, compared to about 70% for Americans under 65.

At a predominantly Black church in Jacksonville with a hipster vibe, contemporary music, and a strong social media presence reflective of its young, energetic congregation, six members died over 10 days starting in late July. All were under the age of 35.

They were "all healthy, all unvaccinated," laments Pastor George Davis of Impact Church, who knew each one personally and has struggled with his own grief at the funerals. He's held two vaccination events for his congregation of about 6,000 where over 1,000 received shots.

Among the church members who died were a 24-year-old man Davis watched grow up since he was a toddler and a woman from his worship team who celebrated her first wedding anniversary only weeks before she died. Her husband recovered.

Davis said the young woman was "just the picture of health, vibrant."

"There is a sense among younger people that they are somehow invincible," said Dr. Leana Wen, public health professor at George Washington University and former Baltimore Health Commissioner. "Unfortunately, though, some people who are hospitalized are going to die and that’s going to mean some people who are younger; and as you’ve seen these are people in some cases who are leaving behind young children."

Among those parents are Kristen McMullen, who had decorated her baby’s room with rainbows and suns, fully embracing her favorite season, summer — after which she would name her first child.

The 30-year-old woman fell ill three weeks before her due date and was admitted to a hospital in Melbourne, Florida, with COVID-19.

After an emergency cesarean section, McMullen was able to hold her baby girl for a few moments before being rushed off to an intensive care unit, where she later died.

"She would say that she was scared and that she didn’t want to die," her aunt Melissa Syverson said, struggling to talk in between sobs. "She was fighting to get back to the baby."

McMullen’s aunt said her family did not want to disclose whether McMullen was vaccinated.

Carlos Reyes was skeptical of the vaccine and so was his wife, Maria — until they and their two teenage children had to be rushed to the hospital in Oakland.

Their 14-year-old son, Sergio, did not need to stay after getting oxygen while 19-year-old Emma joined her parents in the intensive care unit. She was released after a few days, and the parents were put on ventilators.

Their 32-year-old daughter who has an auto-immune disease was the only one vaccinated when they fell ill.

"We were all just a little hesitant at the beginning," said the couple's oldest daughter, Jasmine Rivas Fierro, 34.

Their four children didn’t want to break their mother's heart by telling her while she was still in intensive care that Carlos had died a day after their 22nd anniversary.

"She loved him so much," Rivas Fierro said of her mother, who is still in the hospital.

The family is telling people that they must be fully vaccinated to attend Carlos' funeral next week.

Cindy Dawkins also left behind four children, ranging in age from 12 to 24. She died Aug. 7, less than a week after she celebrated her 50th birthday with her family at Universal Studios in Orlando. She had a cough and seemed tired that day before her condition quickly deteriorated and she had to be rushed to the hospital in an ambulance.

Her family believes she contracted the virus at her waitressing job at a bistro in their hometown of Boynton Beach, Fla., where her coworkers have also tested positive. She was healthy and had been getting tested regularly but was still mulling over getting the vaccine.

"Maybe the vaccine would have helped fight it, but I don’t know if it would have completely stopped it," her 20-year-old son, Tre Burrows, said.

As the family wrestles with grief and sorts out guardianship of Dawkins' youngest children, they are also saddened by what could have been. Dawkins came to the U.S. from the Bahamas when she was in high school and her children say she was close to becoming an American citizen, an event the family planned to celebrate with a trip over Thanksgiving.

"Everything was finally going right," her daughter Jenny Burrows said. "And then this happened."

FRANKFORT, Ky. — Gov. Andy Beshear announced that Kentucky childcare workers are now eligible to receive COVID-19 vaccines under Phase 1B.

Beshear said childcare workers can begin signing up for vaccines starting Monday, alongside people age 70 and older, first responders and K-12 school staff. They can sign up anywhere in the commonwealth currently offering vaccinations.

"We are going to specifically ask our local health departments to focus on individuals over 70, vulnerable populations and childcare workers, and that's even if we move into 1C at other places in the future," Beshear said.

Since vaccines arrived in December, nearly 556,000 doses have been administered in Kentucky.

MORE: How to sign up for a COVID-19 vaccine in the Tri-State

The governor also announced Monday that new COVID-19 cases and test positivity have declined for a fifth consecutive week.

"This is the type of decrease we want to see, and we want to keep it going," Beshear said, adding that some capacity restrictions could be lifted if the trend continues.

Beshear reported 723 new cases of COVID-19, the lowest daily case count since Oct. 12, and nine virus-related deaths. The governor suggested that winter weather, which has closed some labs, could have lead to the lower numbers in Monday's report.

Since March, 389,521 Kentuckians have tested positive for COVID-19 and 4,291 have died of the virus. The state's test positivity rate has fallen to 6.57%, the lowest rate since Nov. 5.

Hospitalizations have been on the decline for several weeks. Currently, 969 Kentuckians are hospitalized for COVID-19, with 270 people in intensive care units and 147 on ventilators. As a result, hospital capacity has remained stable statewide, Beshear said. Kentucky's coronavirus fatality rate has risen to 1.10%.

Using the state's contact tracing database, NKY Health reports 2,443 active coronavirus cases in Boone, Campbell, Grant and Kenton counties, and 34,360 people have recovered from the virus as of Monday. Since the pandemic began, 241 Northern Kentuckians have died from the virus.

Watch a replay of the briefing in the player below:

FRANKFORT, Ky. — The federal government is looking to send 57% more COVID-19 vaccine doses to Kentucky each week.

On Tuesday, Gov. Andy Beshear announced the federal government has approved a 29% increase in Kentucky's weekly dose supply, which equals a 57% total boost in the state's weekly vaccine supply since January.

Kentucky previously received about 53,800 doses per week; The state is now set to receive close to 87,800 doses staring next week. The federal Retail Pharmacy Program for COVID-19 vaccination has also doubled from 13,000 to 26,000 doses for Kentucky pharmacies.

On Monday, Beshear said childcare workers can now begin signing up for COVID-19 vaccines, alongside people age 70 and older, first responders and K-12 school staff in phase 1B. They can sign up anywhere in the commonwealth currently offering vaccinations.

"We are going to specifically ask our local health departments to focus on individuals over 70, vulnerable populations and childcare workers, and that's even if we move into 1C at other places in the future," Beshear said.

Since December, nearly 556,000 vaccine doses have been administered in Kentucky.

With more winter weather forecasted this week, Beshear said Kroger Health's vaccine hub at Covington's NKY Convention Center will still be open Thursday.

"We're going to do everything in our power to keep our regional sites open these next days. We know we've already had to reschedule too many appointments," the governor said.

MORE: How to sign up for a COVID-19 vaccine in the Tri-State

COVID-19 declines in Kentucky

Beshear reported 1,255 new cases of COVID-19, the lowest Tuesday case count in weeks, as well as 27 virus-related deaths. That report included two men from Boone County, ages 54 and 65, and three women from Kenton County, ages 76, 83, and 90.

As of Monday, there are also four confirmed cases of a more contagious UK variant of COVID-19 in Kentucky, four in Northern Kentucky and one in Jefferson County. The first two cases, both out of Kenton County, were first reported Jan. 26.

The governor previously announced that new COVID-19 cases and test positivity have declined for five straight weeks. Without giving specifics Tuesday, Beshear said also said some capacity restrictions could be lifted if that trend continues through six weeks.

"What we will probably look at doing is increasing capacity that's allowed by some amount. We probably won't see a huge jump, but it may be meaningful in some circumstances," Beshear said.

Since March, 390,762 Kentuckians have tested positive for COVID-19 and 4,318 have died of the virus. The state's test positivity rate has fallen to 6.58%, the lowest rate since November.

Hospitalizations have been on the decline for several weeks. Currently, 935 Kentuckians are hospitalized for COVID-19, with 272 people in intensive care units and 133 on ventilators. As a result, hospital capacity has remained stable statewide, Beshear said. Kentucky's coronavirus fatality rate has risen to 1.10%.

Using the state's contact tracing database, NKY Health reports 2,378 active coronavirus cases in Boone, Campbell, Grant and Kenton counties, and 34,852 people have recovered from the virus as of Tuesday. Since the pandemic began, 246 Northern Kentuckians have died from the virus.

Rent, utility relief applications now open

Kentucky tenants struggling due to the financial toll of the pandemic can now apply for rent or utility bill assistance back to April 2020.

They can also apply for three months of future payments. If approved, lump sum, direct payments will be made to landlords and utility providers.

Kentucky's previous eviction relief fund helped 4,135 households financially affected by the pandemic pay rent and utilities, using $15 million in CARES Act funds. More than 5,200 people have already begun applications for the new $264 million program Tuesday.

Both landlords and tenants should apply to be accepted. To see if you qualify and to apply, visit teamkyhherf.ky.gov.

Watch a replay of the briefing in the player below:

FRANKFORT, Ky. — Starting next week, Kentucky will have 291 COVID-19 vaccination sites open statewide at regional hubs, non-regional sites, health departments, and Kroger and Walmart sites, plus Walgreens and independent pharmacies.

Gov. Andy Beshear on Thursday announced three new vaccination sites that will open in Northern Kentucky next week:

You can find a full list of vaccination sites on this interactive map.

Kentucky is currently in vaccine phase 1B, focusing on people age 70 and older, first responders, K-12 school staff and childcare providers.

Nearly 556,000 vaccine doses have been administered in Kentucky since December.

Some nursing home visitation restrictions relaxed

Kentucky will allow indoor visitation to resume for non-Medicare certified long-term care facilities -- including assisted living, personal care, intermediate care for individuals with intellectual disabilities, and independent living -- for those who have been fully vaccinated.

Visitors must test negative for COVID-19 within 72 hours of the scheduled visit. These visits will be limited to one individual, or two if they are from the same household.

Group activities, communal dining and visitation among long-term care facility residents will also resume for vaccinated individuals in non-certified care. First doses have been offered to all residents and staff at Kentucky’s long-term care facilities, and more than 83,000 have received at least one dose.

“What this means, is once someone is better protected from this disease, we want them to be able to see their loved ones,” Beshear said.

The new visitation protocols start Saturday.

The loosening of visitation restrictions does not apply to Medicare certified long-term care facilities, Beshear said. Kentucky still needs approval and guidance from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) before relaxing restrictions for certified facilities.

COVID-19 cases continue decline

Beshear reported 963 new cases of COVID-19, the lowest daily case count since October. The governor also reported 37 deaths, including a 101-year-old woman from Kenton County.

Since March, 392,729 Kentuckians have tested positive for COVID-19 and 4,373 have died of the virus. The state's test positivity rate rose to 7.07%, and new COVID-19 cases have declined for five straight weeks.

Hospitalizations have been on the decline for several weeks. Currently, 935 Kentuckians are hospitalized for COVID-19, with 260 people in intensive care units and 130 on ventilators. Kentucky's coronavirus fatality rate has risen to 1.10%.

Using the state's contact tracing database, NKY Health reports 2,003 active coronavirus cases in Boone, Campbell, Grant and Kenton counties, and 35,179 people have recovered from the virus as of Thursday. Since the pandemic began, 247 Northern Kentuckians have died from the virus.

As of Monday, there are also four confirmed cases of a more contagious variant of COVID-19 in Kentucky, four in Northern Kentucky and one in Jefferson County. The first two cases, both out of Kenton County, were first reported Jan. 26.

Watch a replay of the briefing in the player below: