The Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department (LLCHD) today announced that the COVID-19 Risk Dial will remain in elevated yellow. The yellow position on the dial means that the risk of the virus spreading and the impact on the community is moderate. On the color-coded dial, red represents the highest risk of COVID-19 spread, and green represents the lowest risk.
“Overall, many of the indicators used to determine risk have been moving in the right direction,” said Health Director Pat Lopez. “However, the number of new cases and the positivity rate are still too high. We’re not yet seeing the sustained declines we need to see. Hospital capacity and the number of COVID-19 deaths remain serious concerns.”
Lopez also shared updated national data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccines. The data show that those who are unvaccinated had 6.1 times greater risk of testing positive for the virus that those who were vaccinated. The data also show that those who are unvaccinated had a 11.3 times greater risk of dying from COVID-19 than those who are vaccinated
The position of the Risk Dial is based on multiple local indicators and information from the previous three weeks.
- After a 43% decline in new weekly cases in September, the number of cases has flattened at about 600 a week.
- The community positivity rate has remained in the 9% to 10% range for five straight weeks.
- The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 locally has gradually dropped since mid-September, with the seven-day rolling average of hospitalizations staying steady at about 93 patients in October. The number of Lancaster County residents hospitalized had been declining, but is now going back up. Today, 93 COVID-19 patients are hospitalized locally, with 52 from Lancaster County.
- Seventeen local residents have died from COVID-19 in October. Ten were unvaccinated. Three more deaths were reported on Tuesday.
In Lancaster County, 74.7% of residents ages 16 and over are fully vaccinated, and Lopez said the initial goal of 75% is expected to be reached soon. She said the Health Department’s next focus will be to have 75% of all Lancaster County residents fully vaccinated. Right now, just over 60% of the 319,000 residents are fully vaccinated.
For general information on COVID-19, visit covid19.lincoln.ne.gov or call the Health Department hotline at 402-441-8006.