New COVID-19 restrictions are being announced for Lincoln.
On Friday, Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird and the Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department said that the COVID-19 Risk Dial remains in red, indicating that the risk of the virus spreading in the community is severe. The high rate of COVID-19 spread means more restrictions will be in place starting on Monday, November 16th.
“Today, I call on everyone in Lincoln once again to help save lives, to help keep schools and businesses open, and to help prevent the collapse of our health care system,” Mayor Gaylor Baird said. “Please minimize contact with others and limit activities outside the home unless for work, school, medical care, or food. Help prevent illness and needless suffering – your friend’s, your neighbor’s or your own – by practicing the three W’s: wear a mask, wash your hands, and watch your distance, keeping 6 feet of distance from others. For the next three weeks, avoid all gatherings with anyone outside of your home, and if you must go out for essential errands or items, only visit businesses that follow public health guidance.”
The following changes to the current Directed Health Measure that take effect Monday, November 16 include:
- Indoor gatherings will be limited to no more than 10 people or 25 percent capacity to be in line with the state’s DHM.
- Events in venues with a capacity of 500 or more people must be postponed until after December 7. Previously approved events are subject to review.
- Venues with a capacity of 500 or more people that are planning events after December 7 must have an event plan approved regardless of how many people plan to attend that event. Previously, those venues only had to submit plans if attendance was expected to be more than 500.
- Bars and restaurants that sell alcohol must end alcohol sales no later than 10 p.m. and must close no later than 11 p.m.
- All indoor team sports for youth are postponed until after December 7.
- Individuals must wear masks indoors unless no one else is in the same room and they can maintain at least 6 feet of separation from others at all times.
- Companies licensed to allow consumption of alcohol on city streets such as pedal pubs and party buses may not operate until after December 7.
The city says in just three weeks, the number of weekly cases has nearly doubled, from 645 the week ending October 17th to 1,246 cases this past week. So far this week, 1,336 new cases have been reported, which the city says is another new weekly high. In less than three weeks, Lincoln hospitals have seen the number of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 nearly triple, from 51 on October 26, to 142 patients as of midnight Thursday night.