LINCOLN — Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts on Thursday announced emergency measures intended to relieve pressures on hospital staffing in the state.

Nebraska faces rising hospitalizations due to both COVID-19 and other conditions, Ricketts said, as well as a shortage of nurses and other health care workers. To address those issues, he declared a hospital staffing emergency and announced two actions. The first is an executive order restoring some steps taken during the previous peak in COVID-19 cases, namely, waiving some licensing requirements for hospitals. Those include authorizing the credentialing of retired or inactive nurses, deferring some continuing education requirements for health professionals and suspending state statutes for new health care workers seeking a license to practice.

In addition, he is issuing a directed health measure, effective Monday, that will limit elective surgeries that can be delayed four or more weeks.

Ricketts said his new emergency declaration is specific to hospital staffing, not the coronavirus, and was prompted by conversations with hospital administrators. He said his administration would continue to focus on hospital capacity, as it has throughout the pandemic. The goal, he said, is to make sure that anyone who needs a hospital bed, intensive care bed or ventilator in the state can get one

“This was a challenge we had before the pandemic,” he said.

On Nov. 20, 2020, a total of 987 people were hospitalized with COVID-19, making up 32% of hospitalizations. According to state statistics, 337 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 on Wednesday, comprising 11% of all hospitalizations. But cases in the state continue to rise and are on their way to a 10th straight week of increases. In addition, the number of people hospitalized with the virus is the highest since January.

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