Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear says sending unvaccinated children to school without masks is 'like holding world's largest chickenpox party'

• Gov. Andy Beshear likened unvaxxed children to school without face masks to a "chickenpox party."
• His comments come amid an uptick in cases in Kentucky and a lawsuit from parents at a Catholic school after he issued a mask mandate earlier this month.
• Kentucky has been heavily impacted by the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear defended his statewide mask mandate for schoolchildren and teachers, as a federal judge moved to block the order.

"Sending unmasked, unvaccinated kids into a poorly ventilated classroom is like holding the world's largest chickenpox party, except instead of chickenpox it is the third-leading cause of death last year," Beshear said to CNN on Thursday.

Earlier this month, Beshear announced a mask mandate for a 30-day period, with a possible extension if needed, for schools in the state to help reduce the spread of COVID-19. As the WLWT-TV reported, a federal judge on Thursday issued a restraining order against Beshear's mandate, calling it "tyranny."

US District Judge William Bertelsman's ruling argued the governor's mandate doesn't stand after the state legislature overrode his veto regarding a measure placing constraints on his public health power, The Hill reported.

Beshar also faces a lawsuit from parents at a catholic school in Cold Spring, Kentucky. The judge's ruling temporarily lifts the mask mandate that would only apply to Catholic Diocese schools of Covington, Huff Post reported.

Kentucky has become a hot spot for COVID-19 amid the rapid spread of the Delta variant - a strain likened to be as contagious as chickenpox, according to internal records from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Children have been increasingly admitted to hospitals, which are overwhelmed with patients, most unvaccinated.

"Our hospital capacity, really the capacity that we have based on the staffing that we have, is reaching a critical point," Beshear said at a press conference on Thursday, the Associated Press reported. "At this rate, we are going to be out of hospital capacity, very, very soon."

State data shows that there was a total of 3,869 new cases in Kentucky as of Friday, August 20. According to the New York Times, about 47% of people in Kentucky are fully vaccinated.