Rural areas are the new hotspots around the country; Norton Healthcare trying therapies, including plasma, which helped several - Health News

As news develops about the coronavirus and its covid-19 disease, this item will be updated. Official state guidance is at kycovid19.ky.gov.

• Big cities and major urban areas have seen the greatest number of coronavirus deaths, but a new Kaiser Family Foundation analysis finds the growth rate is now higher in rural areas. The report includes an interactive map that shows the per-capita number of coronavirus cases and deaths across metropolitan and non-metro counties. 
• The KFF analysis found that in the two-weeks ending April 27, non-metro counties saw a 125% increase in coronavirus cases (from 51 to 115 per 100,000 people) and a 169% increase in deaths (from 1.6 to 4.4 deaths per 100,000). Metro counties saw a 68% increase in cases (from 195 to 328 per 100,000) and a 113% increase in deaths (from 8 to 17 deaths per 100,000). 
• Norton Healthcare specialists are researching experimental therapies to treat patients with covid-19, including medications to kill the virus or prevent it from growing; to help stop the body's immune response that results in increased damage to otherwise healthy organs; and to improve immunity; and research that looks at the benefits of "convalescent plasma" in treating covid-19 patients, according to a hospital news release.
• The release says 21 critically ill Norton patients have received convalescent plasma, which comes from a fully recovered covid-19 patient, and researchers say they are seeing "very encouraging results," with six patients having recovered and gone home. Click here to learn more about how to donate blood plasma.
• The Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission, a non-partisan group that analyzes policy and data makes recommendation, wrote Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar reiterating concern that the federal relief funds from the Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act are not providing sufficient help to health-care providers who serve Medicaid beneficiaries, and that this  may do permanent damage to the nation's health care safety net. Click here to see the letter. 
• Housing authorities in more than 100 Kentucky communities will get about $12.6 million from the CARES Act, according to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. His news release, which includes the list of recipients, says the money "will be used to support prevention and preparation services for their residents, for responding to the coronavirus pandemic in public housing, and supporting the health and safety of assisted individuals and families." 
• State Budget Director John Hicks predicts that General Fund revenue for the fiscal year ending June 30 will fall $319 million to $496 million short of estimates. Joe Sonka reports for the Louisville Courier Journal, "Revenues are then expected to fall another 10.5% to 17.2% in the first two quarters of the 2021 fiscal year, with the report containing two revenue projection scenarios based on the timing of the peak of covid-19 cases and the relaxation of the governor's social-distancing orders."
• Rosedale Green nursing home in Covington is a covid-19 hotspot. Julia Fair of the Cincinnati Enquirer reports in detail on what health departments and St. Elizabeth Healthcare are doing to reduce coronavirus infections, including a plan to separate residents based on exposure and symptoms, increased testing, additional clinical supports, more personal protective equipment and doing a deep clean. As of Wednesday, the facility had reported 54 residents and 22 staff who had tested positive, and 14 resident deaths. 
• A long list of African American faith and civil-rights leaders in Kentucky joined a statement issued by such leaders around the nation "encouraging communities to stay at home in states where stay at home orders are being lifted until there is evidence that it is safe." African Americans have been disproportionately affected by covid-19; their death rate from it in Kentucky is about double their share of population in the state. 
• The Kentucky Distillers’ Association and the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce are partnering to help business make sure they have enough hand sanitizer needed to protect Kentuckians as businesses, a chamber news release says. Click here if you are a Kentucky business in need of hand sanitizer, to find out where to get it.

• A Versailles-area winery is "putting the words of the man who told them to partially shut down to good use," John McGary reports for The Woodford Sun. Wildside Winery's first varietal is named Six Feet Petite, and bears Gov. Andy Beshear’s familiar admonition “Y’all can’t be doing that” under an illustration of male and female silhouettes separated by a two-way arrow. Co-owner Elisha Holt told McGary that most buyers get two bottles, one to save for storytelling in the future. "Six Feet Petite came out of the barrel last week, and Monday Holt said they’d already sold a third of it," McGary writes.
• The University of Kentucky's international Chinese partners have donated 15,000 pieces of personal protective equipment to the university, says a UK news release.

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