Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear painted a grim picture of the COVID-19 situation in the Commonwealth Thursday.
In his Team Kentucky briefing Thursday, Governor Beshear said that three hundred additional National Guard troops are being deployed to help with staffing shortages at some of the state’s hospitals. That number will be added to a hundred Guard troops already deployed.
In Western Kentucky, the list includes two hospitals in Paducah and one in Bowling Green.
On a Facebook Live Feed, Beshear said the crisis is reaching historic levels.
“Folks, the hospital situation has never been more dire in my lifetime than it is right now.”
The governor reported that sixty out of ninety six Kentucky hospitals currently have critical staffing shortages. He also said that there are only ninety adult intensive care beds available throughout the state, the lowest ever during the pandemic.