STU JOHNSON

CREDIT WOMIOWENSBORO.COM

Governor Beshear says the “healthy at home” recommendation should not be misconstrued to be a “shelter in place” requirement.  During his daily coronavirus briefing Wednesday, the governor said it’s not about hunkering down, but realizing what positive activities can be done in the home.

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Beshear reported 93 new cases and two deaths, both lower than the day before.  And the governor noted that shows social distancing continues to be effective. “While we don’t want any new cases, we know there are going to be new cases.  But, our rate of increase is lower at the moment than anticipated and that’s a good think overall for our health care capacity,” said Beshear.

Josh Benton, with the state’s Education and Workforce Development Cabinet, said a staff of about 12 prior to the coronavirus crisis would take a thousand to 15 hundred calls a day about unemployment.  He said now 120 staffers are handling between 80,000 and 200,000 calls per day over the last three days.

Benton said the priority should be those needing assistance with re-setting an unemployment pin number or having trouble filing.  “To just check a claim, to check a claim’s status, that can all be done through a claimant’s online portal that tells them when they qualified to request a benefit payment and that sort of thing,” explained Benton.

Beshear said he hopes to announce soon steps to increase coronavirus testing capacity.  The governor also said 70 Kentucky National Guard members are being deployed to help four food banks across the Commonwealth.

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