Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear is joining neighboring Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and is ordering dining areas of restaurants and bars closed until further notice as of tonight.
You won't be able to sit and dine in your favorite Northern Kentucky eatery due to novel coronavirus concerns.
Gov. Andy Beshear announced Monday morning that dine-in options at restaurants will cease after 5 p.m. But, since takeout and deliver is still an option, Northern Kentucky officials encouraged residents to grab a to-go order of their favorite sub or dish to support businesses.
Beshear is a Democrat, but - like his Ohio GOP counterpart Mike DeWine - he earned praise from both parties.
Kenton County Judge-Executive Kris Knochelmann, a Republican, told The Enquirer he planned to order the same amount of food from local restaurants as he did pre-pandemic to support the establishments.
“From all the experts’ opinions, it seems like (Gov. Beshear) is doing the right thing,” Knochelmann said. “He’s not overreacting.”
Boone County's Republican Judge-Executive Gary Moore also agreed with the governor’s decision, adding that “we do not want to look back and say we should have done more.”
For Gary Moore to praise Andy Beshear is about as deep into the Upside Down as you're going to get in local NKY politics, and a very good sign that all the local politicians realize that they won't be employed as politicians anymore if they don't get behind Beshear's efforts to flatten the curve.
I don't think it will keep hospitals in Kentucky from being overwhelmed in 2-4 weeks, the cuts in America's health care infrastructure over the last 40 years are just too deep, and the sheer number of untested and unconfirmed cases in Kentucky and other rural states is just too high. People are infected now, they are sick now, but they don't think they have COVID-19. The ones who do are going to be filling ERs and hospitals very soon.
The results of a busted virus curve scenario won't be limited to red states either. Some 90% of America was never equipped to handle a local epidemic, let alone a national or global pandemic. Large cities like NYC and LA would be to an extent just from scale, but elsewhere it would have bitten into the already unethical profits of the health care and hospital chain industry.
Medical supplies, hospital beds, and contingency plans for emergencies that don't get used don't make profits. Local, rural hospitals have been ravaged in just the last three years by Trump. Even a cluster of a dozen cases that require hospitalization in some rural counties in Kentucky would be a nightmare that would cost lives.
What few resources that are going to available will be consumed by the end of the month in most places. After that, it's the mobilization of the National Guard, FEMA, and the US Army in setting up temporary medical facilities and field hospitals to handle the triage in April and May.
A lot of people will recover from the illness, but will still be contagious and could possibly catch a different strain of COVID-19. It will take several months for us to get to the herd immunity stage and several more for an effective vaccine.
In the meantime, it's going to be like wildfire containment. Pockets are going to be burned down as containment measures are put into place. Those people inside the pockets are going to have to deal with the spot shortages brought on by quarantine/lockdown/containment.
I don't know how bad it will be in Kentucky, but we're nowhere near starting from an optimal position.