More changes will be coming if Nebraska's COVID-19 hospitalizations don't slow.
On Friday, Governor Pete Ricketts announced that the state will take a phased approach to public health restrictions based on the percentage of staffed hospital beds occupied by coronavirus patients. Ricketts says as soon as the percentage of coronavirus-related hospitalizations increases above certain thresholds, restrictions will be tightened.
If the percentage of coronavirus-related hospitalizations declines below the thresholds — on average, over a seven-day period — restrictions will be relaxed. Currently, Nebraska is in the “orange” phase, which is the second most restrictive, and is in place for when the state sees 20% of its hospital patients being treated for COVID-19. The most restrictive is the "red" phase, which would mean 25% of patients in Nebraska hospitals are diagnosed with coronavirus.
The State is issuing a new Directed Health Measure (DHM) effective statewide as of Monday, November 16th. It temporarily halts elective surgeries that can wait four weeks or longer without substantially changing a patient’s outcome. In addition to the restriction on elective surgeries, the new DHM includes all of the health measures that took effect earlier this week.
Governor Ricketts says the state has been working to slow the spread of the virus while protecting hospital capacity, but coronavirus-related hospitalizations have been growing rapidly each day for weeks. The Governor says hospitalizations have gone from 200 on September 23rd to over 900 as of Friday, which he says has created a very serious situation for Nebraska hospitals.
Ricketts says it’s urgently important for all Nebraskans to take personal responsibility for wearing a mask, washing hands often, staying home when sick and keeping six feet of social distance. He added that although they've put in new restrictions this week, the situation is changing rapidly.
The Governor says they believe that Nebraska’s hospital system will reach capacity when about 25% of hospital beds are occupied by coronavirus patients, which he says is the point when hospitals may not be able to deliver the standard of care Nebraskans deserve.
In response to the rising hospitalizations, most elective surgeries will be suspended starting Monday in order to help free up additional hospital beds. Ricketts says the newly announced thresholds and triggers will bring new restrictions into play or reduce them depending on hospitalizations.
You can see the Governor's COVID-19 categories and restrictions below: