LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear is warning that the state’s health care system could be at risk — and lives at stake — from rising pressures of new coronavirus hospitalizations if conditions do not improve.

He made the remarks while defending the new mandates he issued last week to fight the pandemic.

The Democratic governor’s new restrictions on in-person gatherings at restaurants, schools and event venues have drawn criticism from GOP lawmakers, local business owners and private schools throughout the state. Kentucky’s Republican attorney general, Daniel Cameron, joined a Christian school on Nov. 20 in filing a federal lawsuit that seeks a statewide temporary restraining order against a new rule that suspends in-person classes in private and public schools.

Under the new restrictions, middle and high schools will continue with remote instruction until January. Elementary schools may reopen on Dec. 7 unless it is in the red zone, the highest category for COVID-19 incidence rates.

Kentucky continued setting records with 2,135 new confirmed coronavirus cases reported, the state’s highest daily number on a Monday. The state also reported five virus-related deaths, raising the death toll to 1,792.