Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird and the Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department (LLCHD) today announced that the COVID-19 Risk Dial will remain in elevated orange for the second consecutive week, indicating that the risk of the virus spreading in the community is high. On the color-coded dial, red represents the highest risk of COVID-19 spread, and green represents the lowest risk. The dial is updated weekly.
The position of the Risk Dial is based on multiple local indicators and information from the previous three weeks.
- The weekly number of new positive COVID cases has now been below 1,000 for two consecutive weeks. The seven-day rolling average of new cases has declined from 177 on January 4 to 124 on January 23.
- The main reason for the low case numbers in the last few days is that very little testing took place over this past weekend and the last two days because of the snowstorm. Case numbers will most likely increase once testing resumes at more typical levels. While testing remains widely available in the community, the number of people getting tested has declined locally and across the State. Test results can be expected within 24 hours.
- The positivity rate remains high and was at 29.4 percent the week ending January 23.
- As the number of daily cases declines, the case load for doing case investigations decreases as well, and contract tracing can begin sooner. In the last few weeks, all of the case investigations were completed within two days of LLCHD receiving a positive test notification.
- The number of COVID-19 patients hospitalized locally continues to decline and has been under 100 for the past seven days now.
The Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department Wednesday announced that one more resident has died from COVID-19. The death was a man in his 70s who was hospitalized. The total number of deaths in Lancaster County is now 193.
The number of new lab-confirmed cases and the weekly positivity rate is not available.
There are 68 people hospitalized with 49 from Lancaster County (none on ventilators) and 19 from other communities (two on ventilators).
Vaccine registrations: nearly 62,100
An online COVID-19 vaccine registration form for Lancaster County residents is now available at COVID19.lincoln.ne.gov. Those who do not have online access or who need assistance may call LLCHD’s COVID-19 hotline at 402-441-8006 from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekdays to register.
The vaccine is not yet available for the general public. As vaccine doses become available, those who are registered will be given an appointment to be vaccinated. Appointments for vaccinations are dependent on vaccine supply and are not related to the order in which people register. The registration is open to all County residents, but those who are in Phase1B – those age 65 and older and those with underlying medical conditions – are encouraged to register.
The testing process begins with a free online risk assessment available at BryanHealth.com, CHIHealth.com or TestNebraska.com. Drive through test sites include:
- Bryan Health: Former Graham Tire Store, northeast corner of 19th and “O” streets. Tests are conducted from 8:45 to 11:15 a.m. Monday and 8:45 to 11:45 a.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
- CHI Health St. Elizabeth: Autumn Ridge Family Medicine, 5000 North 26th St. and Southwest Family Health, 1240 Aries Drive. Call either site to schedule an appointment: Autumn Ridge, 402-435-5300 and South West Family, 402-420-1300.
- Test Nebraska: Gateway Mall, 6100 “O” St., north parking lot of the former Sears store. Tests are conducted from 8 a.m. to noon and 1 to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday. For more information, call 402-207-9377.
For more information, visit COVID19.lincoln.ne.gov or call the Health Department hotline at 402-441-8006.