OMAHA - Citing a leveling-off of new COVID-19 cases in the Omaha metro area, 55th Wing Commander Col. Gavin Marks has taken the first steps toward loosening the 3-month-old pandemic restrictions at Offutt Air Force Base.

Marks gave Offutt military commands the go-ahead to allow up to 50% of their personnel to work from on-base offices beginning Monday. To accommodate additional traffic, he allowed the reopening of the Kenney Gate (on Fort Crook Road just south of Highway 370) for the first time since March.

He said the lifting of some restrictions was recommended by the public health working group he created earlier this year to offer advice on handling the pandemic, which has caused the deaths of more than 115,000 Americans.

He warned Offutt airmen, though, to continue to follow mask-wearing, sanitizing, and social-distancing guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and from the base.

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