OMAHA- Last week, Nebraska ended an eight-week streak of record COVID-19 cases while also passing 1,000 deaths. Cases were down 26% from the previous week and now puts Nebraska at No. 6 in new cases per capita. There were 12,405 new cases, with 16,739 the previous week. Public health experts have cautioned that downturns could mean an uptick in cases will arise after Thanksgiving.

“The concern is that Thanksgiving gatherings over the weekend may have negated all of those gains already and given us an additional surge,” Lawler said. “We’ll have to see how things play out over the next couple of weeks.”

Hospitalizations are down 8% from last week, meaning the 25% threshold of patients that will make Gov. Ricketts put out new directed health measures, will not come for awhile. The state still ranks No. 4 on overall hospitalizations in the nation. Douglas County also broke their streak of record new cases. Dr. James Lawler, an UNMC official, said the state will also probably see an increase as test results from the weekend will be reported. “Overall, it’s clear that we’ve had a bit of a let-up,” Lawler said. “It’s not completely clear why.”

The dip in new cases occurred before the recent flurry of new mask mandates in communities across the state. So the decrease may reflect the fact that more Nebraskans now know someone who has been ill with or has died of COVID-19 and have taken more precautions.

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