LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Even as Kentucky is reporting a relative plateauing of new coronavirus cases, the commonwealth is in a precarious situation as the July 4 holiday approaches. 

“Really want to emphasize to the people of Louisville this pandemic is still out there,” Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer told reporters Wednesday. “Our numbers have been holding pretty steady here so we have been fortunate but this can change in like 5 days,” Fischer added. 

On Tuesday, Texas, while much more populous than Kentucky, reported an estimated 7,000 new COVID-19 cases. On the same day, Kentucky reported 282 new cases, a slight uptick in positive cases. 

“While we are not in the stay at home mode if you don’t need to be going out around other people, it’s a good idea for your health and the health of others not to do that. If you do go out. Keep your social distancing,” Fischer implored. 

As pointed out by Norton Healthcare's Dr. James Frazier, there has been more cases reported since initiating the first phases of “reopening.”  

“The concern is after the Memorial Day holiday we did see a slight increase as we started to open things back up and certainly going into another holiday weekend we are concerned people are not going to be socially distancing and wearing masks and doing what they are supposed to do. So we could see another uptick.”

 If that does happen Dr. Frazier says Norton has the ICU beds to accommodate more cases but emphasizes, with proper consideration for the health of others, a spike can be prevented.

“Those who are at higher risk it’s probably best if you just stay home and avoid crowds all together. If you are going to get together to celebrate we recommend you keep the parties as small as possible,” Dr. Frazier said.