FRANKFORT, Ky. — White House Coronavirus Task Force leader Dr. Deborah Birx visited state officials in Frankfort Tuesday.
Gov. Andy Beshear said the top concern during their conversation was getting vaccines out to the public.
Health care workers and nursing homes will get doses first, and Beshear said he wants to prioritize teachers and first responders next, but there is uncertainty beyond that.
“We had a very frank conversation about how challenging it can be,” Beshear said. “Dr. Birx and I both agree that public sentiment is shifting in favor of the vaccine and our biggest concern is going to be preaching patience.”
Those vaccines won’t be widely available for months, so steps that need to be taken in the meantime were also discussed.
The White House deviates from Beshear’s new restrictions in two key ways; the first being that the White House doesn’t recommend school closures right now.
“We had the discussion about how high our community spread is, how significant it is, and she fully understood our decision when it came to schools,” Beshear said. “We talked about Jan. 4 or Jan. 11 and specifically talked about once we have nursing homes beginning to be vaccinated, being able to pull some of the testings, once you have everyone tested at a facility, and pushing it towards schools.”
The White House also believes restaurants should be limited to 25% capacity inside and bars should be closed entirely.
Both are open with 50% capacity as of Monday.
“Here in Kentucky, even when we revert back from the steps we just made, we still have some of the more aggressive steps that have been made around the country and I think Dr. Birx and those on the White House task force see us as being a leader and doing tough things when we have to,” Beshear said. “But I believe that everybody is concerned, Dr. Birx included, about these next months, especially how cold it is today and how much that might push people inside. So they’re closely watching our data just like we are.”
Beshear says President-elect Joe Biden’s team has been working with his staff and he’s not worried about the transition.
“I will say that we have had a very good working relationship with this White House and this administration on COVID,” Beshear said. “The communication has been good. We hope and expect that that will continue.”
And he said everyone is focused on vaccines, which will be key to bringing us back to normal.
Beshear said Birx was speaking with lawmakers at the time he held a press conference and was not available to answer questions.