The Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department reports the COVID-19 Risk Dial remains in the Red category meaning the spread risk is severe for week five.
There are two more deaths in the county Friday, a woman in her 60’s who were hospitalized and a man in his 80’s who was in a long term care facility. There have been 19 deaths so far this week and the total increase to 92.
There are 418 new cases of COVID-19 in Lancaster County today bringing the community total to 18,101. Recoveries are up from 5,317 to 5,363. The weekly positivity rate for November 22nd through the 28th was 29.6% and for November 29th through December 4th is 36%.
There are 140 patients hospitalized, 82 from Lancaster County and 58 from other communities. Nine patients are on ventilators.
Residents are advised to follow these recommendations to protect themselves and others:
- Stay at home unless traveling for work, school, food or medical care or to check on others who may need assistance.
- Work from home if possible.
- Wear a face mask when interacting with anyone outside of your household.
- Stay at least six feet away from anyone outside of your household.
- Avoid gatherings.
- Only visit businesses and participate in activities where public health guidelines are observed. The guidelines include mask wearing, physical distancing and capacity limits.
- Follow travel guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control at cdc.gov.
Symptoms of COVID-19 include fever, cough, shortness of breath, repeated shaking with chills, repeated muscle pain, headache, sore throat, new loss of taste or smell. If you have symptoms, please get tested. Testing is now open to all Lancaster County residents by appointment only.
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.
- Test Nebraska: Gateway Mall, 6100 “O” St., north parking lot of the former Sears store, 8 a.m. to noon and 1 to 6 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays. For more information visit testnebraska.com or call 402-207-9377.
- 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 at 402-435-5300 and South West Family at 402-420-1300.