LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Now that the omicron variant of COVID-19 is accounting for nearly 73% of new cases, Gov. Beshear is urging Kentuckians to consider getting the vaccine and booster.
During his press briefing on Monday, the governor cites Moderna saying the half-dose booster shot increases the level of antibodies by 37 times to fight omicron and a full-dose generates 83-fold jump in antibodies.
Just last week, the governor confirmed signatures of the variant have appeared in Jefferson County wastewater following testing by the University of Louisville and Metro Public Health and Wellness. Positive samples were also found from patients in three other Kentucky counties.
“The message is pretty simple: Omicron is spreading faster than anything we’ve ever seen, and it looks like this might be one of the most contagious viruses in modern history,” Gov. Beshear said. “Unfortunately, some of the therapeutics won’t work on it. But what does work is being vaccinated and being boosted. If you haven’t gotten vaccinated yet, please consider doing it now.”
He stressed that everyone should get a shot of Moderna or Pfizer as soon as their eligible.
Over the weekend, Beshear reported 2,575 new cases on Saturday and 1,531 on Sunday. Sixty-one deaths were also reported during the two-day period.
On Monday, 1,215 new cases were reported along with 32 deaths. It’s unclear if any of those cases were omicron-related.
The state’s positivity rate has been “inching up”, according to Beshear. It currently stands at 9.20%.
Kentuckians are continuing to receive the vaccine. Beshear said 10,351 received their very first shot and 32,719 people got a booster.
So far, 2,749,942 have received at least one does of the vaccine in Kentucky.
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