Gov. Andy Beshear asked school districts to stop in-person classes until April 20. Adair County schools are currently closed until April 10 but are providing 14 instructional days with students at home. Teachers are currently reporting to their classroom and are communicating daily with students and parents.
School districts must make the decision to postpone additional days. No information was provided Friday about whether districts would be allowed to add more Nontraditional Instruction Days, which count as school days and do not have to be made up.
Beshear made the request during his daily press conference, held at 4 p.m. central. The daily conferences can be viewed on the governor’s Facebook page.
Beshear also announced that the state will join the federal government in extending the deadline to file income tax returns until July 15.
He thanked Kentucky’s bourbon distillers who are working to develop hand sanitizer.
He calmed fears about rumors that the National Guard would be called in to enforce restrictions and said, “When and if we use the National Guard it will be to help people.”
He reminded people that gatherings should not take place. He noted that funeral homes have worked collectively to enact policies to protect citizens but that a few have continued to hold large funerals. He urged Kentuckians to cooperate with measures set in place so that it does not become necessary to enforce stricter rules.
“There is no place in Kentucky where we ought to have crowds,” he said.
Beshear uses his press conferences to encourage and unite Kentuckians, young and old alike. He has set aside time to show videos aimed at children and making a portion of his conference “family friendly.”
“It is us as Americans against this coronavirus,” Beshear said Friday.
Beshear said 63 people in Kentucky have been confirmed with COVID-19. Kentucky is providing information about COVID-19 at http://kycovid19.ky.gov
