Area COVID Rate Rises Again

After several months of low COVID-19 infection rates, the Public Health Solutions (PHS) district has seen an uptick in cases over the last two weeks. According to data from the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), there have been 67 cases reported in the last 14 days, along with 36 reinfection cases. The PHS district includes Jefferson, Thayer, Saline, Fillmore and Gage counties. Until recently, the DHHS Respiratory Illness Dashboard broke out data by county. Now, however, the data is only available by health district, meaning it does not indicate how many cases have been identified per county.Despite this recent increase, the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) recently graded Nebraska’s pandemic response as an A+. Nebraska ranked second nationally on the evaluation. This report is the most recent national study to credit Nebraska’s coronavirus response. In December, Politico gave Nebraska the top marks in the nation on its State Pandemic Scorecard. On April 13, Governor Pete Ricketts issued a statement, “In Nebraska, we allowed people to live a more normal life, while working together to keep people healthy,” said Governor Ricketts. “We avoided mask mandates, vaccine passports, and lockdowns, and instead trusted the good sense of Nebraskans to do the right thing. Our pandemic approach helped slow the spread of the virus to protect hospitals. At the same time, it provided students the opportunity for in-person learning, gave businesses the freedom to serve customers, and allowed people to stay connected in our communities. Thank you to everyone whose sacrifices helped our state power through the pandemic.”Currently, DHHS data indicates 58 percent of PHS residents are fully vaccinated, compared with 68.38 percent for the entire state.

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