Covid Risk Dial Drops Again

Lincoln, NE (March8, 2022) Cases are declining, and indicators are all moving in the right direction, in Lancaster County’s battle against Covid-19. Health Director Pat Lopez said in her weekly briefing that case numbers, positivity rates, and hospital patient numbers are all dropping steadily.  She lowered the Covid Risk Dial from mid-yellow to low-yellow.  “The Risk Dial has not been in green since last July” said Lopez, as she indicated that the County is moving in that direction.

The position of the Risk Dial is based on multiple local indicators, she said, as she provided information from the previous three weeks:

• The weekly number of new COVID-19 cases has declined at least 40% each week since the end of January. Case numbers dropped from 264 the week ending February 26 to 157 the week ending March 5.
• The seven-day rolling average of COVID-19 patients hospitalized locally has dropped steadily since early February and is now below 50. The number of COVID-19 patients hospitalized locally today is 41, with 29 from Lancaster County.
• The positivity rate dropped to 4.6% last week. It’s the first time the rate has been below 5% since July 2021.
• One Lancaster County person has died from COVID-19 so far in March. In February, 32 residents died from COVID-19.

Lopez said a high level of protection against the virus can be obtained by getting a vaccination.

She also said that the testing station at 19th and O will be closing at the end of this week due to the declining number of tests being conducted.  Home test kits are available at the Lancaster County Health Department at no charge.