Gage Johnson
Editor-in-Chief
gjohnson17@murraystate.edu
With cases continually skyrocketing across Kentucky, Gov. Andy Beshear has issued new recommendations for businesses, schools, restaurants and other establishments across the commonwealth.
In Beshear’s media briefing on Tuesday, Oct. 27, he introduced a slate of guidelines called the “red zone reduction recommendations.” The list includes the following:
– Employers allow employees to work from home when possible
– Noncritical government offices to operate virtually
– Reduce in-person shopping; order online or curbside pickup
– Order take-out; avoid dining in restaurants or bars
– Prioritize businesses that follow and enforce mask mandate and other guidelines
– Reschedule, postpone or cancel public and private events
-Do not host or attend gatherings of any size
– Avoid non-essential activities outside of your home
– Reduce overall activity and contacts and follow existing guidance, including 10 steps to defeat COVID-19
Beshear said schools should reconsider how they conduct themselves after the updated incident rate map which will be released on Thursday, Oct. 29.
“That’s when the guidance kicks in about whether you go virtual, whether you go hybrid or whether it’s safe to have a larger number of kids in school,” Beshear said. “Schools following that guidance are sacrificing for their community.”
Answering the question of whether or not colleges and universities in red zone counties should go solely virtual for an entire week, Beshear said despite plans already laid out, schools must evaluate the safety of their campus again if in a red zone community.
“First of all, every employee that can work from home during that week should,” Beshear said. “I know the universities have their own plans. We’ve looked at them, we think they’re pretty good for how they manage online and virtual. They’ve got a significant amount of testing around it. But when their community is in that red zone, we think they ought to take another hard look about what they do, certainly for that week and there are a lot of other recommendations in that red zone that they ought to be following including gathering and events, public and private.”
In response, President Bob Jackson said with cases rising and multiple counties in Kentucky being classified as red zones or orange zones, the University is following all up-to-date guidance for colleges and universities, as provided by the commonwealth and local and state health officials as the end of the semester approaches.
“Since the beginning of the fall semester, we have communicated near-daily with students, faculty and staff regarding our Racer Safe and Healthy Guidelines,” Jackson said. “We continue that effort as it is vitally important as we complete this semester. The health, safety and well-being of our students, faculty and staff is paramount in every decision.”
Jackson said the University will continue to keep an eye on all events at Murray State in order to create a safe and healthier campus environment.
“Furthermore, we continue to monitor all campus activities in order to cancel or postpone events as needed, reduce social gatherings and to encourage everyone to follow all Racer Safe and Healthy Guidelines,” Jackson said. “Also, we communicate on a daily basis with health officials regarding our steps and protocols in order to control COVID-19 in our campus community and beyond. Our healthcare advisors, including our local and state public health officials, have been very pleased with our Racer Restart Plan, Racer Safe and Healthy Guidelines and the efforts put into place for the past several months to keep our campus community safe and healthy.”
After the recommendations from Beshear, Jackson said Murray State will continue to monitor all local, state and national guidance for colleges and universities as the semester comes to a close.
Chief Medical Officer Bob Hughes said he feels students are very conscientious regarding the importance of wearing a mask and the University has done a good job of keeping the campus safe and healthy.
As for Calloway County, Hughes said he thinks there are some changes that could be made to help diminish the number of cases.
“In Calloway County, family and other gatherings should be kept to a minimum,” Hughes said. “Also, unnecessary travel should be discouraged. I do think a mask mandate should be enacted with fines either to businesses or individuals if they are flaunting guidelines or endangering others.”
These types of restrictions might not be ideal to most people, but Hughes feels that it would best help prevent the spread of the virus.
“While these may be stringent guidelines or recommendations, we are at a critical time till we get an effective vaccine,” Hughes said. “A victory over this pandemic for an individual or family is to emerge on the end of this with you and your family’s life and health preserved.”
For the week of Oct. 19 to Oct. 28, Murray State reported seven faculty/staff cases, 49 student cases and 338 total cases since Aug. 1. Murray State’s COVID-19 dashboard can be found on here.
As of press time, the Calloway County Health Department reported 1,002 total confirmed cases with 843 recoveries, 141 isolated at home, seven hospitalizations and 11 deaths.
As of Oct. 26, the Murray Calloway County Hospital reported the positivity rate for COVID-19 is 8.04 percent.
This has led to the City of Murray to close all city facilities to the public except for the police department, effective at 7:30 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 30.
COVID-19 case information is reported on TheNews.org and our social media.