LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer says he hopes the legislature takes action during the special session to combat COVID numbers. Right now, Louisville remains in the red zone--with nearly 66 daily cases per 100-thousand people.
There were more than 3,500 cases last week and 25 deaths. Those deaths were in people from age 30 to 94.
The mayor was asked about the possibility of the governor getting power to issue mask mandates and if he believed the legislature could help with COVID numbers.
"I'm concerned when I hear the comments about freedom and we politicized the science, basically," Mayor Greg Fischer said. "Your freedom stops when I start breathing in the virus that you have. I understand people want to be free. I want to be free too. But when we live in a society, with each other, we have certain responsibilities to each other."
Mayor Fischer continued to say the science surrounding the virus is undeniable, with the delta variant raging through the commonwealth.
While he says he understands the want for freedom of choice, science should be trusted and the time to act is now.
Taking a look at the way Kentucky faired in the beginning of the pandemic after Beshear's early restrictions should be all the indicators we need, according to Fischer.
"It's undeniable that we in Kentucky outperformed many states that did not put in the type of restrictions that we have," Fischer said. "So, if you value life, and you value your neighbor staying healthy, these are important restrictions we need to put in place so we can get past this virus as quickly as we can."
As far as a peak for the delta variant goes, we're getting closer.
"Our case counts have stopped that doubling every week, and are starting to level off and trend down," said Dr. Sarah Moyer. "We know that hospitalizations hopefully will follow, they'll keep seeing an increase over the next two weeks, but then will hopefully follow with that leveling off and going down, and deaths in about a month."
Here are the key COVID-19 data metrics for September 7, 2021, provided by Mayor Fischer's office:
- Louisville is in the high-alert level red with a daily incidence rate of 65.9 cases per 100,000.
- There were 3,539 new cases over the previous week.
- There were 25 additional deaths over the previous week in individuals ranging in age from 30 to 94.
- Hospitalization data:
- 375 patients currently hospitalized have COVID-19.
- 106 patients in ICU with COVID-19.
- 79 COVID-19 patients on ventilators.
Vaccines
- 61.7% of Louisville residents have received at least one dose of the vaccine.
- 53.4% have completed the vaccine series.
If you're looking for a place to get vaccinated in the city of Louisville, you can find them by clicking here.
Gov. Beshear also released an update saying Kentucky had surpassed a previous record on the number of cases in one week.
According to a news release from the Governor's office, Kentucky recorded 30,680 cases from August 30 to Sept. 5, and 13,005 new cases of COVID-19 coronavirus cases over the past four days alone.
Other data include in the report:
- Kentucky's test positivity rate is slightly up from 13.17% on Friday to 13.74%.
- Around 88% of Intensive Care Unit beds in the state are full, with 188 beds left, according to the report.
- 433 Kentuckians are on a ventilator.
You can check the Kentucky COVID site daily for updates.
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