LOUISVILLE, Ky. — As COVID cases continue to trend down, health officials are hopeful that the state could be out of the "red zone" in the near future.
This week, Kentucky Governor Beshear announced that March 14 is the date that he and state health officials are anticipating the Commonwealth to be out of the highest level of COVID spread, measured by incidence rate.
When it happens, Beshear said the state will likely reevaluate some of the pandemic restrictions like masking and limiting gathering sizes. He also said health officials were looking at redefining the four-color coded system that judges the severity of the spread.
Beshear said the system would be easier for people to understand if they eliminated the "orange" level and reorganized the system like a traffic light - in red, yellow and green levels.
Dr. Sarah Moyer with the Louisville Department of Public Health said Jefferson County is normally a week ahead of the state when it comes to changes in COVID case numbers, so she hopes the city will be out of the red before the state.
While both Kentucky and Louisville are still in the red, health officials are encouraging masking until the level is downgraded.
Meanwhile, the FDA recently approved a new antibody treatment following the temporary removal of two previous treatments officials have said are not effective against the omicron variant. Kentucky is expecting a shipment of that new treatment to arrive sometime this week.
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