North Central District Health Department (NCDHD) has been made aware of 142 new cases in the district since the last reporting on 12/10: 15-Antelope; 13-Boyd; 10-Brown; 18-Cherry; 18-Holt; 4-Keya Paha; 44-Knox; 14-Pierce; 6-Rock.
NCDHD regrets to report a COVID-19 death of a Pierce resident in his 60s. NCDHD extends its sincerest condolences to the family.
Governor Ricketts laid out the threshold for Directed Health Measure (DHM) changes which are tied to the percentage of staffed hospital beds in Nebraska filled by coronavirus patients. On December 12, 2020 at 12:01am, Nebraska moved from the orange level, which is 20-24.99% coronavirus hospitalization rate, to the yellow level, which is 15-19.99%. As a result of the lower threshold, the DHMs relaxed in the below manner:
- The maximum capacity for indoor gatherings increased from 25% to 50%.
- Fan attendance at extracurricular activities—both school and club—is no longer limited to household members of participants; however, it is limited to 50% the rated occupancy.
- Parties at restaurants and bars remain limited to groups of 8 or less. Individuals must still be seated unless ordering food, using the restroom, or playing games. Six feet of separation between groups returns to a guidance.
- Masks are recommended, rather than required, for establishments such as childcare centers, salons, barber shops, massage therapists, and body art studios.
- Elective surgeries may resume in the event a hospital keeps 10% of its capacity available to treat coronavirus patients.
The DHMs, effective December 12th through December 31, 2020, also include the recommendations from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) regarding shortened quarantine. The change includes:
- Quarantine may now discontinue without testing under the following conditions:
- at least 10 days have passed since the quarantined individuals last Close Contact exposure AND
- have no symptom development AND
- continues to self-monitor daily for symptom development through day 14 since last Close Contact exposure AND
- wears a facial covering (such as a bandana or cloth mask) through day 14 since last Close Contact.
- Quarantine may discontinue with testing under the following conditions:
- at least seven (7) days have passed since the quarantined individuals last Close Contact exposure AND
- has had no symptom development AND
- results of a diagnostic specimen test is negative, AND the specimen was collected no earlier than 5 days since the quarantined individuals last Close Contact exposure AND
- continues to self-monitor daily for symptom development through day 14 since last Close Contact exposure AND
- wears a facial covering (such as a bandana or cloth mask) through day 14 since last Close Contact exposure
NCDHD COVID-19 testing sites offer a 15-minute rapid test and/or the gold standard PCR test. The rapid test is only offered to individuals who are currently exhibiting symptoms associated with COVID. NCDHD will not host testing clinics on Thursday, December 24th and 31st.
All testing is offered free of charge at the below locations:
- O’Neill: Monday- Thursday from 8:30am-10:30am in the north parking lot of the O’Neill Armory. The armory is located at the corner of 4th and Hynes Ave.
- Bassett: Tuesdays from 1:00pm-3:00pm at the Rock County Fair Grounds.
- Pre-registration for testing at www.testnebraska.com is highly encouraged, but not required.
- The last patient will be scheduled 15 minutes before the scheduled end of the clinic.
- Valentine: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 1:30-3:30PM. Hosted by Cherry County Hospital but testing is at the Valentine United Methodist Church, located at 804 E. 5th St. Valentine, NE. Rapid tests are not available at this location.
Case count update as of 12/14/2020 at 4:00 PM: 3,384 Total Cases (TC), 1,293 Recoveries (R), 42 Deaths (D), and 587 total cases reported in the last 14 days. A reminder that Total Case (TC) numbers are represented first, and of those total cases the number of Recovered (R) persons is represented second, and total case related Deaths (D) is represented third.
Antelope: TC: 456, R:164, D: 4
Boyd: TC: 164, R: 62, D:2
Brown: TC 241, R:77, D: 3
Cherry: TC: 357, R: 112, D:5
Holt: TC: 648, R: 292, D: 10
Keya Paha: TC: 38, R: 7, D: 0
Knox: TC: 775, R: 296, D: 3
Pierce: TC: 572, R: 204, D:14
Rock: TC: 133, R: 79, D:1