Nebraska's Governor says if COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations under control, then Nebraska could see a rollback in the state's directed health measures.
On Thursday, Governor Pete Ricketts said that if the state can't flatten the curve, changes will be coming. "We need to slow the spread of the virus. If we see hospitalizations continue to increase, we will be taking additional restrictive measures."
Ricketts indicated that if numbers continue to rise, one way to mitigate further spread would be to roll DHMs back to where they were in the Spring. He also encouraged people to continue wearing masks in public and when in confined spaces, to limit trips to the grocery store to once and week and to use good hand hygiene.
During his COVID-19 update, Ricketts said he has not yet been tested for the virus after being exposed to someone who was positive on Sunday night. He said not enough time had passed for his results to be accurate, and that he would need to remain quarantined for 14 days following the contact regardless of his test result.
The Governor also urged Nebraskans to modify their plans for Thanksgiving gatherings. "Normally we would spend that with large groups of family potentially. This year, that's not going to be a good idea. We should all be making plans tfor that Thanksgiving holidays to be very, very small gatherings." He added that since the virus affects every person differently, it's hard to say who could get gravely ill and who would recover easily. Ricketts says the best way to protect yourself and others is to forego large gatherings.
Dr. Gary Anthone, the state’s chief medical officer, said the highest number of new cases in the state are in Scottsbluff, but that statewide, COVID-19 cases are way up, from Grand Island to Norfolk, and Omaha and Lincoln areas.