North Central District Health Department (NCDHD) has been made aware of 59 new cases in the district since the last reporting on 12/21: 5-Antelope; 0-Boyd; 2-Brown; 0-Cherry; 16-Holt; 0-Keya Paha; 26-Knox; 10-Pierce; 0-Rock.

NCDHD regrets to report three additional COVID-19 deaths in the district: a Boyd County woman in her 90s, a Holt County male in his 60s, and a Brown County woman in her 50s. NCDHD sends its sincerest condolences to the families.

NCDHD is pleased to report 188 new recoveries in the district since the last reporting on 12/17: 17-Antelope; 4-Boyd; 7-Brown; 33-Cherry; 47-Holt; 0-Keya Paha; 40-Knox; 40-Pierce; 0-Rock.

NCDHD wishes the district a happy and healthy Christmas holiday. Please remember the 3 C’s to reduce the spread of COVID-19: avoiding close contacts, confined spaces, and crowded places.  NCDHD’s physical office will be closed December 24th, 25th, and January 1st. For general COVID-19 questions call the Nebraska COVID-19 Hotline at 402-552-6645. NCDHD will not host testing clinics in O’Neill on December 23rd, 24th, and 31st.

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.

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 which 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. Testing will not be held December 31st or January 1st.

Case count update as of 12/23/2020 at 4:00 PM: 3,633 Total Cases (TC), 1,633 Recoveries (R), 50 Deaths (D), and 391 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: 486, R:197, D: 5      

Boyd: TC: 169, R: 73, D:3              

Brown: TC 255 R: 93, D: 4            

Cherry: TC: 374, R: 160, D:5         

Holt: TC: 695, R: 367, D: 13

Keya Paha: TC: 40, R: 7, D: 0

Knox: TC: 873, R: 396, D: 5

Pierce: TC: 605, R: 261, D:14

Rock: TC: 136, R: 79, D:1