Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Director Pat Lopez said Wednesday that for the past week COVID-19 cases have increased and the number of people hospitalized remains high. She says the Risk Dial will remain in the red category this week, indicating that the risk of the virus spreading in the community is severe.
Lopez says the number of new local cases increased for the fourth consecutive week, with 4,500 new cases reported for the week ending January 22. The local positivity rate is at 30.7%, indicating that the risk of transmission is extremely high.
She says they are seeing a larger number of younger people experiencing COVID. “Those age 18 and younger made up about 30% of all new cases last week, and those age 10 and younger accounted for 671 new cases last week, more than double from two weeks ago.”
The weekly average of COVID-19 patients hospitalized remained high last week at 132. The local hospitals on Wednesday reported 138 COVID-19 patients. So far this month, 30 local residents have died from COVID-19, including a man in his 60’s who died on Wednesday.
Lopez says while the Omicron variant is peaking or retreating in some areas of the country, that’s not the case here. “Even when case numbers start to decline, the risk of infection will still be high for at least a couple of weeks, and hospitalizations could continue to increase. It’s critical we continue to take action to help preserve access to our hospitals and health care, keep our schools open, and reduce disruptions in business services.”
The mask mandate remains in effect through February 11