Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts today said the state is working to manage hospital staffing issues, including again setting up a transfer center so that patients could be moved based on hospital availability, according to WOW TV.
Last week, the governor declared a staffing emergency for Nebraska hospitals. Nebraska officials said the state was partnering with Nomi Health to help patients in need of a transfer to a hospital in the state. That service is expected to be operational on Saturday.
Ricketts said today that there are 342 COVID-19 hospitalizations in the state. Douglas County reported having 178 COVID-19 patients. The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services announced during the update that hospital capacity rates were higher than at last fall’s COVID-19 peak.
Iowa is seeing a major uptick in covid-19 cases. The Iowa Department of Public Health today announced new total for the past week, saying there have been 8,907 additional positive COVID-19 tests. The health department reported 39 additional COVID-19 deaths. There are COVID-19 outbreaks in 16 of Iowa’s long-term care facilities. That is twice as many outbreaks as last week’s total of 8.
Woodbury County is also seeing increasing numbers of COVID-19 cases. Siouxland District Health says the 14-day rolling average for the county is 10.2 percent. Ten people are hospitalized due to COVID-19, and 42.7 percent of residents are now fully vaccinated for COVID-19.
