On Thursday, Governor Pete Ricketts and other state leaders gave an update on the state's response to the growing spread of COVID-19 in Nebraska.
At this time, Ricketts says he isn't putting any new restrictions in place as the state continues to hit new all time high’s in cases and hospitalizations, but says changes do need to be made.
“It’s obvious we are headed in the wrong direction,” says Nebraska Chief Medical Officer Dr. Gary Anthone. He’s predicting another 170 to 200 Nebraskans will be hospitalized by this week. 698 people are currently hospitalized in Nebraska with COVID-19.
Anthone continued to urge Nebraskans to avoid the three C's: 1) crowded places, 2) close contacts, and 3) confined spaces. He also strongly encouraged Nebraskans to continue wearing a mask when six feet of distance can't be maintained and to use good hand hygiene.
“Remember this is all about trying to make sure we preserve our hospital capacity,” says Gov. Ricketts.
While the governor announced no new changes to current directed health measures, he did say he will be evaluating those in the next week and possible changes could be coming. “We just implemented our first tightening of our DHM’s two weeks ago. Typically it’s going to take two or three weeks to see what kind of impact those things are having so we are always trying to evaluate additional steps,” says Gov. Ricketts.
Governor Ricketts says one of his top priorities is keeping kids in school. “Kids are better off in school because it’s a structured environment."
But those making the decisions on whether to keep kids in the classroom or learning remotely say there needs to be changes made on the state level. “We need to decide what’s more important. Having bars open at 100% or having schools open at 100% and until the governor and other leaders decide to do that we are not going to have kids back in school,” says OPS School Board Member Ben Perlman.
He says the lack of strict DHM’s is causing a ripple effect impacting schools. “There’s no question that the lack of leadership and the lack of directed health measures has created a big problem here,” says Perlman.
Nebraska Department of Education Commissioner Matthew Blomstedt covered the work happening at schools, and at school-sponsored extracurricular activities, to help people stay healthy. When schools have to cancel social events out of a concern for the well-being of participants, Commissioner Blomstedt asked communities not to reschedule them in an alternate setting. He says holding the events informally, without rigorous health protocols, runs the risk of spreading the virus.