As fear of the spread of the coronavirus grips the country, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear called on local employers Tuesday to start offering paid sick leave if they don’t already.

“We have got to make sure that people stay home when they’re feeling sick until we move past this,” Beshear told reporters in Frankfort.

No cases of the novel coronavirus disease, or COVID-19, have been reported in the state, but Beshear said he believes it was only a matter of time before Kentucky saw a case and he wanted residents to be prepared.

“I would encourage all those businesses that are out there that don’t currently offer paid sick leave, absolutely consider it for the next several months,” Beshear said.

Kentucky sits in a region with some of the lowest rates of access to paid sick leave in the country, according to Jason Bailey, head of the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy, a left-leaning think tank.

Some 62% of private sector workers in Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi receive paid sick days, compared with 91% of workers in the Pacific Northwest, Bailey said.

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That's partly because Kentucky has a greater number of low-wage employers — factories and retailers. But it’s also the fault of a state legislature that in 2017 barred individual localities from imposing sick leave requirements, Bailey told The Courier Journal.

“Cities like Louisville are actually barred from doing that,” said Bailey, referring to a 2017 bill that also repealed Kentucky’s prevailing wage law. “So that creates additional risk because a lot of those workers who do not have paid sick days are also the ones who are in those jobs with regular contact with the public. … We have created a situation through that and other policies that increase our risk.”

In Louisville, employers including Brown-Forman and Humana told The Courier Journal that they have plans in place to continue business in the face of an epidemic.

“We have invested significantly over the last few years to ensure our employees are connected by technology,” Brown-Forman spokeswoman Elizabeth Conway said in an emailed statement. “We are seeing more and more people choose to work remotely to generate results anywhere, ideal for situations like this.”

The spirits maker, which employs about 1,300 people locally, has limited international travel to only “business critical trips,” until further notice, Conway said.

Similarly, Humana spokeswoman Kate Marx said the health insurance company has “longstanding business continuity plans in place to prepare for events like this.” The local chamber of commerce lists Humana as Louisville’s fifth-largest employer, responsible for 12,000 jobs.

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“Our standard guidance to employees is to stay home when sick,” Marx said in an emailed statement. “Humana also encourages both its members and employees to visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website for the latest information and guidance on how to stay healthy.”

But for many Louisville residents, working from home isn’t possible.

“There’s obviously no way that we can build a Ford vehicle at home,” UAW Local 862 President Todd Dunn told The Courier Journal. “The show must go on. We have got to continue to build vehicles.”

The autoworkers union represents the 13,000 employees at Ford’s two factories in Louisville. Under a collective bargaining agreement the union negotiated with Ford, factory workers have paid sick leave and can see an in-plant doctor if they feel ill on the job.

Asked whether the company was considering any policy changes in light of fears about the spread of coronavirus, Ford spokeswoman Kelli Felker said in an emailed statement, “We will follow the terms set out in our Collective Bargaining Agreement.”

A number of other employers said only that they are monitoring the situation but declined to elaborate on their specific sick day policies.

In an emailed statement, UPS spokesman Jim Mayer said the company’s primary concern is for the safety of its employees and the people in the affected areas.

“We are providing our employees with advice on how to help prevent contracting illness and what to do should they exhibit any symptoms,” Mayer said. “This includes instituting hygiene protocols that are in line with suggested World Health Organization measures, and expanding those communications to our employees across the company.”

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UPS is Louisville’s largest employer, with some 21,000 workers locally. The cargo hub it operates has made Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport the third-busiest cargo airport in the country, behind only UPS' other hub in Anchorage, Alaska, and FedEx's base in Memphis, Tennessee.

Mayer declined to provide details on the company’s sick leave policy at the local cargo hub, describing such questions as “speculative.”

Similarly, GE Appliances declined to provide details on its sick leave policy.

“There are no changes to our policies,” GE Appliances spokeswoman Julie Wood said in an emailed statement.

The company, owned by China’s Haier, employs about 6,000 people locally, according to the local chamber of commerce.

Liquor giant Sazerac, which owns the Buffalo Trace distillery in Frankfort and the Barton 1792 distillery in Bardstown, said it is monitoring the situation and formulating plans in the event the coronavirus spreads to cities and countries where it has workers.

“As is already our policy, if an employee feels unwell, we encourage them to check in with their doctor and not to come to work,” spokeswoman Amy Preske said in an emailed statement.

Manna Inc., a restaurant franchising company started by businessman and former Louisville basketball star Junior Bridgeman, did not respond to a request for comment on its sick leave policies. The company operates 136 Wendy’s restaurants, 28 Golden Corral Buffet and Grill restaurants, 84 Fazoli’s restaurants, six Mark’s Feed Store restaurants and 11 Blaze Pizza restaurants, according to its website.

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Representatives of Amazon, Kroger, Papa John’s and Yum Brands also did not respond to requests for comment.

The Kentucky Retail Federation, which lobbies for retailers of all sizes including chains like Kroger, said retailers are trying to be flexible. The business group is encouraging its members to let staff and customers know how they are stepping up their cleaning procedures.

“At the end it’s up to the individual business. They implement the policy that they have,” said Kentucky Retail Federation spokesman Steve McClain, adding that it’s to everyone’s benefit to have healthy workers.

Reporter Joe Sonka contributed to this article.

Reach reporter Alfred Miller at amiller@gannett.com or 502-582-7142. Follow him on Twitter @AlfredFMiller. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/subscribe.