Kentucky hospitals reaching ‘critical point’: governor

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) on Thursday announced that hospitals in the state are nearing a “critical point” with regard to being able to treat COVID-19 patients.

Beshear urged unvaccinated people in his state to get the shot while he explained that hospitals are facing staffing shortages and reaching capacity, noting that the delta variant of the coronavirus is “burning through our population,” according to The Associated Press.

“Our hospital capacity, really the capacity that we have based on the staffing that we have, is reaching a critical point,” Beshear said during a Thursday news conference. “At this rate, we are going to be out of hospital capacity very, very soon.

“I hope that seeing that hospitals are to a point where they might not be able to help you if you are in a car wreck, or otherwise harmed, will somehow get through and lead to more people getting that vaccine that helps protect us all,” Beshear added.

The state reported more than 4,800 coronavirus cases and nine deaths on Thursday. More than 1,700 Kentucky residents are hospitalized because of the virus, the AP reported.

Beshear also condemned vaccine misinformation during the conference, pointing to messages circulating on social media that question masking and vaccine validity.

“One of the most difficult things that we face in our fight against this virus is folks either putting out information that is blatantly false or sometimes intentionally lying,” he said.

When asked what he thought of GOP Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.) and Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) sharing posts that contradict health officials’ guidance, Beshear said that he believes “those two individuals are misleading people on Twitter.”

Beshear last week issued an executive order requiring people to mask up when in K-12 schools; however, a Kentucky federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked the statewide school mask mandate.