LINCOLN- The number of Covid-19 cases in Nebraska remained low compared to previous weeks, but the new subvariant being found in eastern states has been confirmed in Nebraska. In Nebraska, COVID case numbers dropped last week. The state recorded 1,420 new cases last week, down 18% from the week before, according to figures from the CDC.

Cases are uniformly low throughout the upper Midwest, in the mountain states and into the Pacific Northwest. But they’re much higher in the East and South, where hospitalizations also are rising. Those increases are largely being attributed to a rapid increase in the new subvariant called XBB.1.5, which the CDC says now dominates in the Northeast. It was recorded in Nebraska in the final week of 2022.

Dr. James Lawler, a co-executive director of the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s Global Center for Health Security, called XBB.1.5 a “pretty significant upgrade for the virus in terms of transmissibility” compared to previous variants. “It’s important for folks to recognize that the viruses we’re dealing with now are very different than the viruses we dealt with early in the pandemic,” Lawler said.

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