LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Just this week Kentucky was one of the dozens of states with an increase in COVID-19 cases, but not large enough, to pull back on reopening phases. That is the reality many other states are seeing.
With fireworks on display, and celebrations happening in parks and backyards, the Fourth of July is usually a day spent with dozens of friends, family and even strangers.
"Most of those family traditions or fun traditions to get together over the holiday weekend so there's ways that we can still do that,” Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer said.
But in the midst of this pandemic, Fischer says we need to celebrate safely, if we don't want numbers to drastically rise. That includes consistently wearing a mask, social distancing, and being extra cautious when going to open businesses.
"This virus doesn't care about a holiday tradition or anything it just wants to spread, and even though we have already opened most of our businesses as of this week, bars, pools, event spaces, the pandemic is still with us,” Fischer said.
Numbers are already through the roof across the country.
Just this week, at least 38 states have shown a rise in positive COVID-19 cases and 40% of the country has halted or stopped reopening plans.
"If you look around the rest of the country we're seeing some super problematic surges of cases especially in the south and the west. We've seen them manifest themselves in different ways,” Fischer said.
Here in Kentucky, almost everything is open to some capacity including pools that opened just this week and water parks like Hurricane Bay at Kentucky kingdom.
These are just additional reasons, why being cautious is crucial.
"You can be looking relatively good today and five days from now, you can see dramatic falls,” Fischer said.
While many were hoping for a holiday weekend spent with friends and family, looking at other states is one indicator as to what can happen if you're not careful.
"We gotta keep in mind what's at stake. That's the lives and health of people that you love,” Fischer said.
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