NKU to hold in-person commencement ceremonies for May gradua

NKU to hold in-person commencement ceremonies for May graduates


NKU to hold in-person commencement ceremonies for May graduates
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Updated: 5:18 PM EST Mar 8, 2021
WLWT Digital Staff
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Updated: 5:18 PM EST Mar 8, 2021
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Good evening, Team Kentucky. Good evening, Virginia. This is Lieutenant Governor Jacqueline Coleman here to give some good news items, and I'm going to kick it off with a very special economic development announcement. Uh, that really demonstrates the resiliency of Kentucky INS. On December 2nd, wholesale hardwood interiors was hit by a disaster when a fire broke out that resulted in a near total loss of its headquarters in Campbellsville. Only about 20,000 square feet of the 120,000 square foot operation was able to be partially salvaged. Now, only three months later, the company is not only back in operation, but it is also growing its presence in Taylor County and creating new job opportunities for Kentucky residents. Uh, W H I is moving forward with plans to construct a new facility at its existing location on the Campbellsville bypass, expected to be fully operational within 12 to 18 months. The company is investing a little over $7 million into this rebuilding and expansion effort and will create 100 full time jobs in the process. Clearly, this is tremendous for wh I, Taylor County and the Commonwealth. The company has operated in Campbellsville for 35 years, growing to include 12 warehouse locations throughout the state. Uh, wh I employees over 100 people in total, with warehouses in Bowling Green, Elizabethtown, Lexington, Louisville, Richmond and Walton, as well as facilities in Indiana, Ohio and Tennessee. This is a company that has has an impact throughout our state and the surrounding region, and its recovery and continued success is important for so many Kentucky ends and so many Kentucky families. We've spoken a lot about our effort to build back stronger than ever in Kentucky, and we're building something special here in Kentucky, and we've been doing it with companies like W H I. So I want to thank everyone at wholesale hardwood interiors for their commitment to the Commonwealth, and I look forward to seeing the company reached new heights in the years ahead. Okay, My second piece of good news. I'm actually gonna call this excellent news. So we've got two good news items in one excellent news item. Um, the this has to do with the Kentucky Broadband Initiative. And as you know, our administration has been committed to providing broadband Internet connectivity to every single Kentucky and no matter where you live because we understand that closing the digital divide is critical for economic development, for education and for creating the jobs of the future right here in the Commonwealth. So in January, we announced the speed test Kentucky and online Internet speed test that helps us map broadband coverage and connectivity across the state. The speed test will remain active for one year, and Kentucky INS can continue to take the test. But we set a deadline for March 1st so that we maintain that sense of urgency, Uh, as this is a priority for our administration and we won't rest until we fulfill our promise. Um, so as of our self imposed deadline of march 1st, I'm happy to report that over 81,000 Kentuckians have taken the speed test. This is a great response, and I'm gonna give you some comparisons from other states in the country and then to let you know what our national partner has said. Uh, in one month, we have outpaced much larger states that began their speed tests. Six months ago, Geo Partners called Kentucky a shining light and said that we accomplished in six weeks what other States have accomplished in six months with over 81,000 completed tests, Kentucky has more than double the number of tests as the next highest state. This is another example of Kentucky leading the way, which means we now have enough data to put together a strategic plan to build out broadband service in Kentucky. Even still, we do need more responses from a few counties. So if you live in Christian County, Bullitt County, Boone County or Jefferson County, we really need you to go to speed test Ky. UH, speed test dot ky dot gov to help us to collect more data. But with the data we do have, what we do know is that there are 71 counties that are able to move forward with grant funding request. That's that's pretty remarkable, especially for a six week time span. We're doing this, of course, as quickly as we can, but it will be an ongoing project as we continue to collect data from across the state. So I want to give a huge thanks to our partners who made this such a great success and has really helped Kentucky emerged as a national leader in this work. Um, I also want to take everything every Kentucky and that took 30 seconds out of their day, uh, to make sure to help their neighbors in need. So remember that if you still haven't taken the speed test, we still need you to The more data we have, the better work we can do. Uh, and so you go to a speed test dot ky dot gov to take that test and to give us even more information to build an even stronger foundation here. We're really excited about getting to work laying the last mile, Um, for Kentucky ins across the commonwealth. So thank you. And our last piece of good news here, the sun has been shining. So I've got really good news about getting outside. Um, we have great news for 12 Kentucky communities today. I'm excited to announce more than $692,000 from the Recreational Trails program has been awarded to improve parks and recreational spaces across the Commonwealth. RTP is a competitive federal program aimed at improving communities and enhancing quality of life which aligns with our goals here in Kentucky. So safe green spaces provide a place for our families. Exercise and spend quality time together, allowing you to get out of the house, especially after a year of surviving a pandemic. So, um, as we work to build a better Kentucky, those quality outdoor spaces will help us to continue to build world class tourist destinations here in Kentucky. Uh, these improvements will attract tourism dollars. They will strengthen our economies as we work to reinforce our post pandemic economy and build the better Kentucky we've always imagined. So let me read off a few places here that are going to receive some funding. Carroll County will receive $35,750. Franklin County 20,000. Dollars Garrett County, $44,804 Harlan County, $200,000. Hart County will receive 100,000. Henderson County will receive 37,184. Martin County will receive 14,829. Perry County will receive 34,746. Shelby County will receive 125,000. Uh, Madisonville will receive 20,000 Morganfield, $21,274 and last but not least, Corbyn will receive $38,471. So these selected applicants must still undergo an environmental review and receive clearance from the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet and approval by the federal Highway Administration before receiving the funds. So congratulations to all of the selected communities. Because of your work, families in all corners of Kentucky will have access to better parks and recreational spaces, and we all know we need them at this point. Um, so I'm very excited that the vast majority of these projects are in rural Kentucky as a rural Kentucky. I know how beautiful our entire state is, and I want us to make sure that we are invested in every area of Kentucky and as, um, grateful to have the governor's support in that. So we look forward to the completion of these projects and the prosperity that they will provide across the Commonwealth. And that wraps up our good news today. So, Governor, I'll turn over to you. Okay, Thank you to our lieutenant governor. And before we get into the covid report, just a quick update for all of our Kentucky INS who have suffered, uh, due to the recent flash flooding, Uh, and or the ice and snowstorm. FEMA is on the ground. Um, evaluating both events right now in its first set of counties. Um, I have spoken today with our contact in the Biden administration stressing how critical this is in the importance of individual assistance. And we are going to continue to push that to anybody out there who lost their home had it damaged, or the rest please document each and every one of those losses. It's going to be critically important, because if we can get individual assistance, it will provide 30 plus $1000 up to that that can that can help individuals. We're gonna push just as hard as we can. For that. I want to thank those out there that are providing goods and or are holding the telethons that we are seeing. There have been multiple of them, uh, to help those in need. You are not alone. You're not alone. Our National Guard continues to be on the ground. Help is there, and we are going to help you rebuild. Remember, it's about 30 days from the event. Tell when we can get a presidential declaration. Uh, it takes a documentation. It takes a full submission. We're working towards that right now. All right, Um, let's recap the last week, uh, in covid, we had our eighth consecutive week, week of of covid declines. Remember, we had never had four consecutive weeks before this current set of declines, and we are now down to pretty much where we were in September as the numbers had just started taking off. This is the exact type of trajectory we want to see as we are vaccinating people. This is, uh, in many ways, a race against time against the variance. If we can continue that that downward trajectory while increasing the number of people vaccinated, then we can hopefully get to the end of this thing. Uh, sooner rather than later, the President has made a promise that all adults that want to be vaccinated we'll have an opportunity to get at least their first shot by the end of May. And so that means we gotta keep hustling to make sure we continue to see these numbers drop just as positively. Um, are is the positivity rate. Uh, it continues to decline. Last week um, being being just at about 4.12% Which again is the lowest sense at least periods in October, if not before. Remember, this is a leading indicator. Uh, so it is positive news of what we're gonna see moving forward. Some states have plateau. Um, we don't want to see that. We want to see continued declines. And as we do, it'll give us more opportunity, uh, to either increase capacity for certain things, reduce restrictions. We got to do that right. We gotta do it incrementally because we're so close to the end. We don't want to sacrifice Kentucky inns along the way. Good news. Our our hospital capacity is in good shape. The inpatient census. Well, that's That's the hospital capacity across the state to areas in the red zone. Neither of them are concerning for us right now. They're both about ICU. Bed space one just barely, uh, hits the red mark about plenty of capacity around. Let's look at the inpatient census graph. Uh, as you can see, the number of Kentucky and in the hospital for covid is has plummeted, and we want to see it continue on a fall. Uh, in the I. C. U as well. This means not only are less people getting sick enough to be in the hospital, less people are getting sick enough to need the ICU bed when they're in the hospital, Kentucky and on a ventilator. Also decreasing. It says good news, and and we want to see it continue. In that vein, Today's report is one of the better ones we've had Today. We're reporting just 331 new cases of Covid 19. That is the lowest since September 14th. Um, everything's down. Kentucky is currently hospitalized due to COVID. 539 currently in the I. C U 161 currently on a ventilator due to Covid 82 r positivity rate today down to 4.6%. We want to see that continue to decrease as well. We're reporting 10 new deaths today. A 76 year old man from Boone County, two men from county, ages 74 93 a 66 year old man from Franklin County, an 80 year old woman from Harrison County, 62 year old man from Henderson, two men from Jefferson ages 83 84 um, a woman from Logan, age 63 a 73 year old man from Muilenburg. Some of the best news that we see is in long term care. Just three of those 10 individuals, 30% or long term care residents again, that's plummeted from two thirds to a third or less. Just three new, um, resident cases. Eight new staff cases, two new deaths attributable to to long term care given, um, the vaccinations that are that are out there, um, and and a few other updates. We have Dr Stack today to talk about the new CDC guidance for those that have been vaccinated. It should be a very good incentive to get vaccinated on what it does, but also what it does not allow, as well as an update on a couple of new cases of the variants that we are seeing here in Kentucky. So over the doctor stat. Good afternoon, everyone. And hello, Governor. So I'd like to give you these few updates that the governor mentioned. So today the CDC released new guidance. The guidance is to give information to people who are fully vaccinated and What restrictions may be able to be removed for those people who are fully vaccinated is that there's a lot for giving there's noise here in my neighborhood. Sorry. So there's a lot of information in these, um, in this document, and it's going to take us some time to kind of think through it and what the implications are. But I'll break it down if I can into a few big buckets, first of all, for people who are fully vaccinated. So this would be for adults who are fully vaccinated. The CDC is now saying that those individuals within their own households can gather in small groups with other fully vaccinated adults. Of course, people under 16 are not yet eligible for the vaccination. It's not authorized for them, but for the households where all the adults are fully immunized, uh, completely through the series in two weeks past the second dose for a two dose series, you can gather in small settings. They don't specify the numbers, but in small settings in your private household. If though vaccinated and unvaccinated people mixed together in a gathering in those instances, generally you should still practice social distancing and where your masks with a few limited exceptions and they pretty much make an exception. That sounds like our current guidance in Kentucky that two households, or a maximum of eight people, could get together. Um, if you had a mixture of vaccinated and unvaccinated. So maybe use that in Kentucky for a placeholder until we get more information on this. Uh, the other guidance and this is really important is when you are out in public when you are out in public settings, whether you are vaccinated or not, the CDC is still asking everyone and urging everyone to please wear your mask socially distanced. Practice your hand hygiene and cough hygiene. Cough into your sleeve, not into the open air. And please continue to do those behaviors until we get everybody vaccinated, particularly the most vulnerable in society. Um, additionally, there is no change to the travel guidance, so there has been no relaxation of travel guidance by the CDC yet in relation to vaccination status. Um, so please, this is this is good news. This is a big development, but we have to be careful. A real concern I think most public health professionals have is if people misinterpret this as we don't have to pay attention to the virus and we don't have to do our masking and social distancing. That would be a mistake. If we do that, we run the risk of supercharging the pandemic when hopefully we should be getting near the end of the pandemic. And along those lines we found some more cases of the B 117 variants of covid 19. That's the strain of the virus, the mutation that was first found in the United Kingdom. At this point, uh, it is inevitable that it will continue to multiply and expand in its presence in the state of Kentucky unless we take all of the important public health measures of masking social distancing. And we all get vaccinated as soon as we are able to and have access to it. So, please, when it's your opportunity to get vaccinated, I sure hope you'll accept the vaccine. It'll help keep you safe, your loved ones safe in our community safe and then the final point related to the vaccines. We still have not yet received guidance for long term care facilities and assisted living facilities that are regulated by the federal government through Medicare, Medicaid, we are as eager as family members, and residents of those facilities are to give new guidance and allow enhanced visitation. We have already done that in sittings are situations or settings where we have the ability or the authority in Kentucky to do so. But the federally regulated facilities are going to have to have guidance from the federal government that permits that visitation as soon as we have that we will look forward releasing it, uh, and making sure you have access to that so we can safely get back to seeing our loved ones and enjoy each other's company. So good news on the vaccine front, and we're gonna keep working as hard as we can to expand our network and get everyone the chance to get vaccinated as soon as supplies make it possible for everyone to have that opportunity. So thank you very much for all you've done Kentucky and back to you, Governor. Well, thank you to Dr Stack, I I think that last point. We still hear some that are confused. It's mainly the skilled nursing facilities that are, uh, covered by the federal government through Medicaid and Medicare. We we are waiting their guidance. Um, those other facilities that are not we've allowed enhanced visitation. Where where everybody is vaccinated. I know a lot of people are getting to see their loved ones. If, uh if your loved one is in a facility, though, that is governed by the federal government, we understand you're anxious. We hope that they will come out with their guidance very, very soon. All right, let's move to, um, vaccines. Um, let's start with table, too. Remember, uh, the week of February 23rd had been the most vaccines we had ever. Uh, putting people's arms in a single week with one day to go This week, we have already surpassed it. So this week, And remember our vaccine weeks run through Tuesday's, um, Tuesday through the following Monday because that's when we get the vaccines. Each week we've already vaccinated 113,811 individuals, and we have one more day to to go. We are catching up from that large amount of supply we got after weather delayed it for a week, and we are excited about how many Kentuckians right now are getting vaccinated. If we look at table one, uh, currently in Kentucky, we now know 834,130 individuals have been vaccinated. And that's through the various programs. Uh, state and federal. That means certainly for, uh, population over 18. You can only get, um, two of the three vaccines. If you're over 18, we have vaccinated 25% more than a quarter of the eligible population in Kentucky. So a year and two days after the very first case of covid and Kentucky and we have three highly effective vaccines and we vaccinated a quarter of our adult population, we want to move forward even faster. But I think that that that's something we should all be very thankful and grateful for, while at the same time working to make sure each and every one of you get that shot of hope as soon as possible. Uh, going through the demographics, which we do on Monday of the vaccines. Let's start with age. So as we look at age, um, about 36.4% of all our vaccinations have been age 70 and up 70% of all of our vaccinations have been age 50 And, uh, that's a good sign. Let's move to gender. We're 60. 40 again. We think that this is going to balance out a little bit more. But we are, um, trying to see if there is more hesitancy. Some of the national polling has suggested that amongst men, um, ethnicity, 98.87% non Hispanic, 1.13% Hispanic and then on race,

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