Kentucky sees highest spike in coronavirus cases after lockdown protests

Around 100 protesters gathered Wednesday on the lawn of the Capitol building in Frankfort during Democrat Beshear’s coronavirus briefing, shouting “Open up Kentucky!” and “King Beshear,” the Lexington Herald-Leader reported.

The same group returned Friday to the Capitol building, where they were met by barricades, the newspaper reported.

Instead, they circled the area in cars for a drive-through protest of Beshear’s coronavirus restrictions, the report said.

It’s unclear whether the protests had any impact on the surge of deaths reported Sunday in the state.

Beshear said at least 13 percent of cases reported in Kentucky have been nursing home residents.

Of the 273 new cases, there were 33 patients who were residents of nursing homes and eight more who were staffers, he said.

Beshear insisted Sunday he wouldn’t budge yet on easing lockdown restrictions despite the calls from protesters, according to the newspaper.

“We’re not in the 14 days of decreasing under the White House guidelines to do certain things,” Beshear said.

via: https://nypost.com/2020/04/20/kentucky-sees-highest-spike-in-coronavirus-cases-after-protests/

Photo Credit: REUTERS/Bryan Woolston