Beshear issues mask order, blasts judge and attorney general for order requiring his orders to be more specific, vows appeal-HEALTHYLIVE

Beshear played a video of Coach John Calipari endorsing the wearing of masks. He said Calipari volunteered.

This story is being updated.

By Al Cross
Kentucky Health News

Gov. Andy Beshear issued an executive order Thursday requiring Kentuckians to wear masks in public to prevent a growing spread of the coronavirus.

"You can think there’s some liberty component, but that ends when you put the health and safety of someone else at risk," Beshear said near the end of a Capitol-rotunda press conference at which he announced and explained his decision.

He said he acted because of an increase in cases (with 333 more reported in the state Thursday, its seven-day rolling average spiked to 315 from 211 in just six days) and "watching what happens when people didn't act quickly enough across the country."

He compared Kentucky to Arizona, which had a similar number of daily cases two months ago but is  now running out of hospital beds. "That’s what happens when this virus gets away from you," he said. "We can’t wait until we are getting thousands a day."

Covid-19 hospitalizations and intensive-care cases remained steady Thursday, but recent increases have left only 26 percent of ICU beds available, and "They can get eaten up real quickly if you let your covid numbers get away from you."

Beshear's order takes effect at 5 p.m. Friday. Enforcement will depend mainly on local health departments and businesses, and he said the state and national lobbying groups for retailers favored the move. "We have 'No shoes, no shirt and no service'," Beshear said, citing a familiar sign. "It's now 'No mask, no service'."

The governor said enforcement would start with warnings, but businesses that fail to enforce the rule could be fined or shut down. He said the latter option would apply to an unnamed Western Kentucky restaurant where he said employees did not wear masks last weekend.

He said restaurant customers would be required to wear masks except when eating. He said that rule in bars would "go a long way," but he will meet with bar owners Friday to talk about "what other steps they could take to prevent congregation. . . . I want to give them the opportunity to stay open if they're willing to do the things they need to."

Beshear said he would appeal to overturn a temporary restraining order from Scott Circuit Judge Brian Privett telling him not to issue or enforce any more emergency orders unless he states "the emergency that requires the order, the location of the emergency, and the name of the local emergency management agency that has determined that the emergency is beyond its capabilities."

Privett issued the order in a lawsuit filed by Evans Orchard & Cider Mill of Georgetown, seeking relief from Beshear's limits on attendance at the agri-tourism facility. The injunction bars Beshear from enforcing any emergency order against the business "or any of the 547 other such registered facilities.

Attorney General Daniel Cameron, who joined the lawsuit, announced the ruling in a press release: “The governor cannot issue broad, arbitrary executive orders apart from the requirements of state law. . . . This is a clear win for the rule of law and will help Kentucky families and businesses across the commonwealth who have suffered and continue to suffer financial losses and economic hardship because of the governor’s executive orders.”

from KENTUCKY HEALTH NEWS https://ift.tt/2OclxF6

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