Gov. Andy Beshear said "the delta variant is making people sicker than ever before and is taking the lives of people younger than we've ever seen pass away in this pandemic." He noted that the deaths reported Thursday include a 29 year old, a 32 year old, a 38 year old and multiple people in their 40s.  

The U.S. vaccination drive against COVID-19 stands on the verge of a major new phase: Government advisers on Thursday recommended booster doses of Pfizer's vaccine for millions of Americans.

Gov. Andy Beshear made another plea for Kentuckians to take preventive steps to combat the pandemic. He says the more people who get vaccinated and wear masks when indoors in public, the faster COVID-19 cases will go down.

The Biden administration on Thursday began compensating some Florida school board members whose pay was docked this month for defying Gov. Ron DeSantis’s ban on mask mandates.

On Thursday morning, the Purchase District Health Department announced McCracken County had surpassed 10,000 total COVID-19 cases. There are now 10,003 total cases, 387 of which are active.

"This is hitting people far younger than we ever saw previously in the pandemic," Gov. Andy Beshear said.

Schools have welcomed students back to classrooms but face a new challenge: a shortage of teachers and staff the likes of which some districts say they have never seen.

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — A 29-year-old eastern Kentucky teacher known as a role model for her students has died after battling COVID-19, the district’s superintendent said Wednesday.

COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. have climbed to an average of more than 1,900 a day for the first time since early March, with experts saying the virus is preying largely on a distinct group: 71 million unvaccinated Americans.

President Joe Biden is set to announce that the U.S. is doubling, to 1 billion doses, its purchase of Pfizer's COVID-19 shots to share with the world. Biden is also set to embrace a goal of vaccinating 70% of the global population within the next year. 

Nationwide demand for the treatment has forced the federal government to change how local hospitals get the treatment.

While boosters aren't available for the general public, they may be available in the future.

UPDATED: 9/21 at 4:15 p.m.

As of Tuesday, the positivity rate for COVID-19 test results is 11.95%. Currently, only three counties — Carlisle, Livingston and Clinton — are out of the COVID-19 red zone. 

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — An elementary school in eastern Kentucky suffered its third coronavirus-related death among its staff since the school year began, the district’s superintendent said Tuesday.

Plus, the company said, adding a booster dose to a single shot of the vaccine raised immunity even more, and should also protect people strongly against infection.

(CNN) -- Comedian and actor Chris Rock revealed Sunday that he has tested positive for COVID-19, and he is using the opportunity to urge others to get vaccinated against the virus.

FRANKFORT, KY — Gov. Andy Beshear is warning unvaccinated Kentuckians not to count on the availability of monoclonal antibody infusions because of a national shortage affecting Kentucky's supply of the treatments. 

Superintendent Donald Shively says the plan will be used if there is a large spike of COVID-19 cases.

 In Washington, a solemn and somber remembrance is on display honoring those who’ve died from COVID-19.

The state has continued to report large numbers of cases in September. Over the past three days, the state has had 8,571 new cases. 

Gov. Andy Beshear is providing an update on the coronavirus in Kentucky.

COVID-19 has now killed about as many Americans as the 1918-19 Spanish flu pandemic did — approximately 675,000. And like the worldwide scourge of a century ago, the coronavirus may never entirely disappear from our midst.

 (CNN) -- The United States plans to ease travel restrictions on all fully vaccinated foreign visitors starting in November, the White House said Monday, relaxing a patchwork of bans that had begun to cause fury in Europe and replacing them with more uniform requirements for inbound international air passengers.

In a highly anticipated announcement, Pfizer said on Monday a Phase 2/3 trial showed its Covid-19 vaccine was safe and generated a "robust" antibody response in children ages 5 to 11.

Appointments can be made online or by phone. 

All but one west Kentucky school district in the Local 6 area have decided to continue requiring masks indoors.

Parents in two Memphis suburbs are suing on behalf of their children with health problems.

Right now, the COVID-19 vaccine is the priority, but health experts say there are other shots you should get too.

The state also reported more than 1,400 new COVID-19 cases among kids and teens age 18 and younger. 

The vote Friday, 16-2, was a blow to the Biden administration's plan to shore up people's protection against the virus amid the highly contagious delta variant.

A head-to-head study of all three authorized coronavirus vaccines in the United States finds the Moderna vaccine is slightly more effective than Pfizer's in real-life use in keeping people out of the hospital, and Johnson & Johnson's Janssen vaccine comes in third.

Octavia Tokley said she and her husband, Erin, were grateful this year that their jobs made them among the first people eligible to be vaccinated against Covid-19.

Hickman County is one of six school districts in the state to make masks optional.

Vaccine advisers to the US Food and Drug Administration started meeting Friday morning to discuss whether many Americans need to start getting booster doses of coronavirus vaccine.

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky may not have enough monoclonal antibody courses to meet the rising demand in the state, Gov. Andy Beshear says.

A Jefferson County judge has denied a woman’s request to order a Louisville hospital to treat her husband’s COVID-19 with ivermectin.

During a Team Kentucky Briefing Thursday afternoon, Beshear criticized leaders of the few Kentucky school districts who have chosen not to continue mask requirements after the General Assembly passed a measure to leave the decision in their hands. 

An early childhood education program in western Kentucky finished installing new technology to help combat COVID-19.

The school district has rejected about 650 medical exemption forms, the "majority" of which were signed by Dan Busch, a chiropractor at Twin Palms Chiropractic in Venice, Florida. 

"This all could have been avoided," the woman's son said. "This could have been prevented by a few acts of kindness. They were in a state that had one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country. Getting a vaccine and wearing a mask for others ... had this been done, she would be here today."

Idaho hospitals are so overwhelmed with the surge in coronavirus cases that doctors and nurses have to contact dozens of regional hospitals across the West in hopes of finding places to transfer individual critical patients.

GRAND RIVERS, KY — A bride-to-be from Grand Rivers, Kentucky, died last week of COVID-19. Her loved ones told NBC News she had decided to hold off on getting vaccinated, because of misinformation she was given about the shots. They told NBC News they're sharing her story because they know she would have wanted other people to learn from her mistake and get vaccinated. 

Local hospitals are reporting an overwhelming increase of patients in their emergency rooms. 

On Wednesday an executive order by McCracken County Judge Executive Craig Clymer went into effect.

Gov. Andy Beshear sent more than 300 Kentucky National Guard members to hospitals throughout Kentucky. About 15 to 20 of those troops are at Baptist Health Paducah and 30 are at Mercy Health – Lourdes Hospital.

Both Paducah hospitals say they are not aware of any employees quitting because of vaccine mandates.

The Kentucky Department for Public Health also reported 49 new virus-related deaths. Gov. Andy Beshear said the lives lost include multiple people in their 30s and 40s. 

Missouri lawmakers, business lobbyists and protesters are railing against President Joe Biden's planned vaccine mandate for large businesses.

Kentucky has one of the nation's highest rates of new virus cases.