![]() The Kentucky GOP voted to override Governor Andy Beshear's statewide mask mandate during a special session the Democratic governor called to address the pandemic. "Our hospital situation has never been more dire in my lifetime than it is right now," Beshear said.įor more reporting from the Associated Press, see below. He added that nearly two-thirds of Kentucky's hospitals are facing critical staffing shortages, and more than 300 Kentucky National Guard members are being dispatched to assist health care workers at 21 hospitals. The state is currently seeing its worst COVID-19 surge that threatens to overwhelm hospitals, and lawmakers acted during a special session called by the governor to address the pandemic as state hospitals struggle to handle the new virus cases.īeshear warned Thursday that Kentucky only has 90 adult intensive care beds available statewide. Though Beshear vetoed parts of the bill that removed requirements for K-12 and child-care centers, Republicans overrode his veto and ended the statewide mask mandates, which Beshear had implemented as a strategy to handle COVID-19. Republican lawmakers voted to shift mask mandate decisions to local school boards. © 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc.Kentucky's GOP-dominated legislature overrode Governor Andy Beshear's statewide mask mandate, ending the requirement for masks to be worn in K-12 schools and child-care centers. Beshear defended his executive order, with his spokesperson adding that the decision could place thousands of children at risk. The state’s test positivity rate is 12.75 percent, up from 11.57 percent on the same day, last week.Īccording to data from the Mayo Clinic, 54.8 percent of Kentuckians have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose, while 47 percent are considered fully vaccinated. Some 1,708 Kentuckians are hospitalized with the virus. ![]() Kentucky reported 4,836 coronavirus cases and nine deaths on Thursday. 10 requiring people to mask up in all K-12 schools, and defended his order Thursday as “the absolute right call.” State Attorney General Daniel Cameron, a Republican, has asked Kentucky’s Supreme Court to throw out the mandate as part of an ongoing legal battle over whether state lawmakers overstepped their bounds by restricting Beshear’s powers.īertelsman has scheduled a hearing on a preliminary injunction for Tuesday. The governor signed an executive order Aug. Texas schools drop ban on mask mandates amid court challenges ![]() The judge’s ruling has no effect on the state school board’s emergency regulation requiring masks in public schools.īeshear spokeswoman Crystal Staley said in a statement that Bertelsman’s order “could place thousands of Kentucky children at risk and undoubtedly expose them to the most dangerous version of COVID-19 we have ever seen.” Following the ruling, the paper said, diocese superintendent of schools Kendra McGuire announced the diocese would revert to a masks-optional policy. The Louisville Courier-Journal reported that Bertelsman had not yet ruled on a request from the parents and Beshear’s administration to limit the scope of his ruling to the Diocese of Covington, located in northern Kentucky. Beshear’s mask mandate, it will not be mandatory for students to wear mask. ![]() If the citizens dislike the laws passed, the remedy lies with them, at the polls.” After a judge put a halt to Gov. “The Executive Branch cannot simply ignore laws passed by the duly-elected representatives of the citizens of the Commonwealth of Kentucky,” Bertelsman wrote in his opinion. US District Judge William Bertelsman ruled that Beshear could not issue the 30-day mandate after the Republican-controlled legislature voted earlier this year to strip the governor of his emergency powers. Andy Beshear’s universal school mask mandate Thursday, handing a victory to a group of Catholic school parents who had challenged the governor’s order. Kentucky man who killed his girlfriend’s daughter learns his fateĪ federal judge halted enforcement of Kentucky Democratic Gov. Man digs up 700 Civil War coins worth millions at Kentucky farm More flash flooding looms for Vermont as severe storms, tornadoes likely to erupt across Northeast on Thursday You won’t believe how insanely cheap last-minute Beyoncé tickets are ![]()
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