Nebraska could see loosened restrictions as early as tomorrow if hospitalizations continue their decreasing trend.
Governor Pete Ricketts says the seven day rolling average is under 20 percent of hospital beds being used by a COVID-19 patient.
“Even though we are going to yellow, we remind people we have the virus in our community, we still need to practice all the rules we have been talking about regarding the pandemic and slowing things down,” he said at his Friday coronavirus news update.
Loosed restrictions include: Indoor capacity would grow to 50 percent, mask wearing in businesses move from required to recommended and hospitals can begin elective surgeries.
One highlight is extracurricular activity crowds would not be limited to people living in the same household.
“If you have a school or a gymnasium, the school can still take steps to limit the number of people in there and if they want to be more restrictive, they certainly can do that,” Ricketts said.
Ricketts added they plan to get the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine as soon as early next week. The state is expected to receive 15,600 doses and distribute it to eight hospitals and further given out to nine more. The first to be vaccinated will be population groups in phase 1A, which includes staff and residents in long term care facilities.
Nebraska’s chief medical officer, Dr. Gary Anthone, says 3,884 long term care facility residents have been diagnosed with COVID-19. There have been 579 deaths, which is 44-percent of the state’s death toll.
Ricketts and Anthone said despite the vaccine, don’t let your guard down.
“We’ve held down the fort now for nine months, now we see the calvary coming,” Anthone said. “Now is not the time to quit the fight. Now is the time to actually increase the fight knowing the calvary is coming.”
Anthone predicted more than one-third of the country’s population will be vaccinated by February.
“This is not the time to give up. This is the time, especially for the people that will not be vaccinated, to keep as vigilant as possible and like I said, the calvary is coming,” Anthone added.