One on one: Gov. Andy Beshear talks with 14 News

KENTUCKY. (WFIE) - Governor Andy Beshear spoke with Randy Moore in a one-on-one interview on Thursday in our 14 News Now Studio.

He said his faith in the effectiveness of mask wearing comes not only from science, but now from his own experience too.

Assuming they continue to test negative, Governor Andy Beshear and his family will be released from quarantine this weekend.

They have been secluded in the Governor’s mansion since October 11 after close contact with a driver in the family’s security detail.

“What my experience says is that wearing a mask works. I was sitting in the front passenger seat next to someone who was driving who was infectious with COVID who later tested positive. He was wearing a mask and I was wearing a mask,” said Governor Beshear.

A contact tracer immediately reached out to the Beshear family, and the governor says the process is working as it should.

His close call comes in what he says is a third escalation of the virus.

The first one in March and April was devastating because of a shortage of PPE, treatments and testing.

The second one in July wasn’t as consequential.

“This one is scarier than the one in July because the overall numbers are so much higher, but even if we get a mortality rate down to close to one percent, if you have a thousand cases a day we lose a lot of Kentuckians,” said Beshear.

Some of those Kentuckians could be front line workers. Not only will a surge test the capacity of hospital resources, a surge will test the capacity of the human resources we need to treat people.

“Where their fatigue comes from and why we have seen some leave their job,s is they leave the hospital and they are somewhere in public, and they aren’t wearing masks and doing what they need to. That puts them in more danger in their day to day lives,” said Beshear.

That’s why Governor Beshear says “wear your mask.” If not for yourself or your friends and family, then for the doctor or nurse you come into contact with, without even knowing it.

You can see the full interview here:

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