Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert and Douglas County Health Director Dr. Adi Pour gave an update on the local COVID-19 response on Thursday afternoon.
Pour said the county is seeing about 104 new cases per day, but she would like to see the numbers hit an incremental goal of 50 cases per day.
Of the cases reported to date:
- 62% are younger than age 40
- 13% are ages 30-39
- 28% are ages 20-29
- 76 Native Americans have tested positive since the start of the pandemic
- 10% are Black
- 25% are Hispanic
- 37% are white, which marks the first time since the start of the pandemic that whites made up the majority of cases in Douglas County
- 70%, or 9,675 cases, have recovered
Updating hospital capacity, Pour reported:
- 216 medical surge beds are available, which means the county has a 83% occupancy rate
- 58 adults are in the ICU, giving the county an 83% occupancy rate for ICU beds as well
- 14 patients are on ventilators
- 10 pediatric ICU beds are available
The county has 69 hospitalized COVID-19 patients, “and that’s actually a very low number,” Pour said. In the beginning of August, she said, the high was about 100-135 COVID-19 patients, with the highest number since the pandemic occurring on May 27 with 163 patients.
Pour said the county currently has a 1.2% death rate, which compares to the national death rate of 3.1%. There have been 165 coronavirus deaths in Douglas County so far.
She noted that 32% of COVID-19 deaths in Douglas County also had cardiovascular disease as an underlying condition, as compared to 36% nationally. Other death information provided by Dr. Pour:
- 75.6% above age 65
- 15% are ages 55-64
- 5.5% are ages 45-54
- 2.4% are ages 35-44
- 1.2% are ages 20-34
Pour also acknowledged three larger clusters that DCHD is keeping an eye on: corrections facilities, long-term care facilities, and Creighton University.
The health director also gave an update on the COVID-19 impact on Douglas County schools:
- 67 students have tested positive
- 55 staff have tested positive
- 752 staff/students are quarantined
Pour called on parents to make good decisions — and help their children make good decisions — over the upcoming holiday weekend. “Schools have really tried to do the best they can, and they have good plans in place,” she said. “But they need to rely on parents, too, to do the right thing, to really tell their children what to do outside of schools because otherwise, these students are bringing in all the virus back into the school again and it’s going to make it very difficult to have ongoing education going on.”
She also asked people to “take the hand-sanitizer to the barbecues,” and wear masks. She noted that loud talking spreads COVID-19 more so than regular conversation, and encouraged wearing face masks at any barbecues or other social gatherings people might be planning to attend over the long holiday weekend. “Remember that the virus is still in our community, and all together we can do the right thing,” she said.