LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) – Lincoln-Lancaster County health officials updated the community on the City’s efforts to prevent the spread of the coronavirus at a briefing on Tuesday.
The LLCHD COVID-19 Risk Dial remains at High Risk (orange).
The orange position on the dial means that the risk of the virus spreading and the impact on the community is high. On the color-coded dial, red represents the highest risk of COVID-19 spread, and green represents the lowest risk.
Health Director Pat Lopez attributed this week’s dial setting to the increase in new cases, high positivity rate, and strained hospital capacity. The position of the Risk Dial is based on multiple local indicators and information from the previous three weeks.
The seven-day rolling average of new daily cases levelled off at about 80 cases in October. At the end of last week, the average was back up to 105 cases a day.
The community positivity rate had been in the 9% to 10% range for the past eight weeks but was back above 11% at the end of last week.
The seven-day rolling average of hospitalizations remains elevated. For nearly three weeks the number of COVID-19 patients has remained around an average of 90 patients a day.
Eight COVID-19 deaths have been reported in November.
Director Lopez also pointed to a positive milestone in the local fight against the pandemic: the vaccination of children ages 5 to 11. More than 1,500 children in that age group were vaccinated at the Health Department’s first clinic at Lincoln High School on November 6. She encouraged parents and guardians to visit COVID19.lincoln.ne.gov to schedule an appointment at upcoming clinics.
“The ability to vaccinate children 5 to 11 years old is a major step forward for our community. Children who are vaccinated are children who are protected, which slows the spread of the virus and aid in our community’s progress,” Lopez said.
Correspondingly, vaccination data for children ages 5 to 11 is now available on the COVID-19 dashboard at COVID19.lincoln.ne.gov. Residents can find those in that age group who have initiated vaccination under the “Percent Population Vaccinated” tab, and those who are fully vaccinated under the “Vaccination Demographics” tab. Also, the dashboard has now been updated to display the percentage of the entire population of Lancaster County who are fully vaccinated, which currently stands at almost 61 percent.
The local Directed Health Measure (DHM) is in effect through 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, November 24. The DHM continues to require that all individuals ages two and older – regardless of vaccination status – wear a mask indoors.
For general information on COVID-19, visit covid19.lincoln.ne.gov or call the Health Department hotline at 402-441-8006.
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