Another round of Directed Health Measure rollbacks will be made in Nebraska this week as COVID-19 numbers continue to spike in the state.
On Monday, Governor Pete Ricketts announced the new measures to combat COVID-19, including new DHM rules that will go into effect at 12:01 AM Wednesday.
Starting Wednesday:
- Businesses will be required to have six feet of separation between customers. Dine-in options will still be allowed at bars and restaurants, but there will be a maximum of eight people per table, per party.
- Masks will be required for business personnel that have contact closer than six feet with customers for more than 15 minutes.
- Customers at bars and restaurants will be required to be and remain seated. If you’re playing a game, you will be required to wear a mask.
- Those attending extra-curricular activities, whether it’s club sports or school-sponsored, will be limited to only household family.
- Churches and places of worship must also abide by six-foot social distancing rules, but there will be no limit on occupancy.
- Indoor gatherings will only be allowed 25% of occupancy with no more than 10,000 people. Previously, that was at 50%. These include indoor/outdoor arenas, zoos, auditoriums, large event conference rooms, meeting halls, indoor theaters, libraries, swimming pools, and any other confined indoor/outdoor spaces.
- Indoor carnivals and dances are prohibited. Dancing is permitted at wedding receptions if individuals remain at their tables and keep six feet social distance. Recitals are permitted but must follow the gathering requirements.
- Gyms, fitness clubs, and spas must maintain six feet of separation between customers.
- Salons, barbershops, massage therapy businesses, and tattoo parlors must maintain six feet between customers, and patrons and employees must wear masks at all times. For services provided on the face, the customer will be allowed to remove their mask while receiving those services.
- Wedding and funeral receptions will require that only as many as eight people are allowed at a table, and that there is six of distance between tables.
Ricketts says there will not be a statewide mask mandate, but reminded the public about the mask requirements in the DHMs. He said that he thinks mask mandates breed resistance to doing so, pointing to the mask ordinance in Omaha and noting how many showed up at the City Council meeting to dispute it.
The governor also said the state has asked businesses to move to work-from-home plans, and that the state itself is moving that direction with its employees.