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.

Former athletes with local ties call the latest move to pay for endorsement deals a win.

Starting July 1, Kentucky will allow companies to pay student-athletes to use their name, image or likeness. Gov. Andy Beshear signed an executive order enacting the change Thursday.

Former Cincinnati Bengals player Tim McGee said when he was in college at the University of Tennessee in the 1980s, he went hungry some nights.

“We had to eat prior to six o'clock. Once six o’clock was over, that's it. You didn't have any money, and me being from inner city, we didn't have the disposable income to provide extra money to myself and my sister," he said. "Where you knew the university was making all this money. And it just, it was just so, so, so unfair, and everyone knew it.”

Kentucky is the first in the Tri-State to enact the NIL rule. However, 19 states have passed similar legislation to allow compensation for student athletes.

Monday, the U.S. Supreme court issued a ruling that ended the NCAA limits on education-related benefits. In the past, the NCAA said its rules were in place, in part, to keep the sports amateur.

Attorney and sports agent Patrick McCarthey said the benefits will come into play for student-athletes in the form of commercials and business endorsements.

“You're going to see the super star quarterback get a car dealer, you’re going to see the All-American center get a grocery store,” he said.

He says Kentucky schools now have this as a recruiting tool. However, as other states follow suit, bigger universities could lose out to larger cities with more businesses.

For years, the NCAA has been developing a plan to allow students to accept endorsement deals with limits.

“The average fan goes, 'Well, he’s getting a free education," McGee said. "Well, you know, I always wanted someone to break down the number of hours and the hourly rate I’m getting deprived. And where else in America, the United States of America, can you give labor and get no compensation in return?”

Northern Kentucky University assistant athletic director Bryan McEldowney wrote:

"We are excited our Norse student-athletes will have the opportunity to generate revenue under Governor Beshear’s executive order based on their name, image and likeness. Today’s executive order creates a level playing field for our student-athletes and Northern Kentucky University with our peers – both in the Commonwealth of Kentucky as well as those in the Horizon League located in states which have laws in place. We have been actively preparing for NIL reform and will be ready to educate and prepare our student-athletes according to the dynamics of the executive order."

“We've been doing this a long time in terms of preparing our young people for the new world as they leave Kentucky," University of Kentucky Athletic Director Mitch Barnhart told reporters Thursday. "Now, we've just fast tracked it so they're going to get a bigger idea of what it looks like while they're at Kentucky. I think it’s certainly a changing landscape.”