NEBRASKA, IOWA AMONG FEW STATES WITHOUT STAY-AT-HOME ORDERS

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds stopped short of issuing a stay-at-home order in her news conference Monday morning.

Iowa and Nebraska remain two of the few states that have not issued one. The list of Midwest states with such an order includes neighboring Kansas, Minnesota and Missouri. Yet, a key difference those states have that Nebraska and Iowa do not: specific instructions that narrow down who is an essential worker that can leave to go to their job and who should stay home.

On Monday, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease doctor, said that, despite no stay-at-home or shelter-in-place orders in both Iowa or Nebraska, the two states are on the same page with him.

"I had good conversations with (Gov. Ricketts) and (Gov. Reynolds) and it's interesting that functionally, even though they have not given a strict stay-at-home, what they are doing is really functionally equivalent to that," Fauci said

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IN CORONAVIRUS STORM, ADI POUR KEEPS CALM AND FOLLOWS HER COMPASS

OMAHA - Adi Pour was not exactly a household name before the coronavirus pandemic, but she has been a well-known and respected leader in Nebraska public health circles for decades.

Now, by virtue of a job that gives her sweeping powers in an epidemic, she has been thrust into the spotlight, closing Douglas County bars for St. Patrick’s Day, ending restaurant dining and telling police that, yes, they can break up crowds of more than 10 and issue citations. While most people are complying, the spotlight has brought criticism: that Pour’s orders do too much or that they do too little. It has also brought unhinged wrath. Last week, a former TV meteorologist was charged with emailing multiple profane death threats to her.

Through the storm, Pour has calmly focused on what she calls her compass: guarding the health of the community, her community for almost 50 years

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GRAND ISLAND DOCTORS ASK RICKETTS FOR STRICTER MEASURES TO CONTAIN CORONAVIRUS SPREAD THERE

GRAND ISLAND - Doctors in Grand Island, alarmed over the growing cluster of coronavirus cases there, are asking Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts to implement even stricter measures to force more people to stay home and slow the spread of the virus in their community.

Forty-five doctors from the Grand Island area signed a letter asking for more help from state officials and warning that the number of cases in the community could be much higher than what has been reported because of a lack of testing. The letter was written by Dr. Libby Crockett, an OB-GYN at the Grand Island Clinic, and Dr. Rebecca Steinke, a family physician at Family Practice of Grand Island and the medical director of the Central District Health Department, which covers Hall, Merrick and Hamilton Counties.

Taylor Gage, a spokesman for Ricketts, said the Governor’s Office has been in contact with Grand Island’s mayor, the public health department there, the hospitals and officials at the JBS USA beef plant, where 10 workers tested positive for the coronavirus.

“We are reaching out to the doctors to set up a meeting with them,” he said.

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GOV. RICKETTS COMMENTS ON KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE CONSTRUCTION ANNOUNCEMENT

LINCOLN – Today, Governor Pete Ricketts issued a statement following news that TC Energy is moving forward with construction of the Keystone XL pipeline.

“The long-awaited start of construction on the Keystone XL pipeline is tremendous news for Nebraskans,” said Gov. Ricketts.  “The project will upgrade our energy infrastructure, increase our nation’s energy independence, and bring great-paying jobs to our state.  Additionally, several Nebraska counties will benefit from a surge in property tax revenues from the pipeline project.”

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RICKETTS TAKES ACTION TO PREPARE FOR GATHERING CORONAVIRUS STORM

LINCOLN - Gov. Pete Ricketts said Tuesday he is taking action now to "surge up" the state's capacity to combat an increasing attack by the coronavirus that's expected to peak in Nebraska in mid-to-late April.

Ricketts issued an executive order that will allow critical access hospitals in rural areas to have more than 25 beds, temporarily waived some workforce training requirements at long-term care facilities, accelerated the state's quest for more surgical masks and prepared for the gathering storm.

That also means more testing, the governor said, along with increasing health care capacity, equipment and staffing while providing more flexibility.

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UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA TO PROVIDE MORE THAN 2,000 BEDS FOR COVID-19 PATIENTS

LINCOLN, Neb. - Governor Pete Ricketts, along with other state officials gave information during the daily COVID-19 update. On Thursday, Nebraska entered into an agreement with the University of Nebraska System to provide quarantine housing. This allows the State to use beds at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, University of Nebraska at Omaha and the University of Nebraska at Kearney.

The agreement will create bed space for three purposes: Quarantining individuals who need monitoring; People in isolation while waiting for testing results; Discharging patients who are convalescing

This contract will provide about 2,100 bed with food and janitorial services. The State and the federal government will cover the cost of these beds.The governor said the State is still working on staffing of the dorms and there's no timetable as to when the facilities will be used.

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GAGE COUNTY WOMAN IS 6TH NEBRASKAN TO DIE OF COVID-19

BEATRICE-  A Gage County woman in her 90s died of COVID-19 on Tuesday, bringing Nebraska's total number of deaths from the virus to six, health officials said. 

The woman, a resident of an assisted living facility, was also the county's first confirmed case, the Public Health Solutions District Health Department said in a press release. Gage County, which is south of Lincoln, includes the city of Beatrice.The woman was hospitalized at the time of her death and had multiple underlying health conditions, the department said. 

An investigation to determine how the woman became exposed to the virus is ongoing. 

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RICKETTS, HEALTH ADVISERS RESIST CALL FOR STAY-AT-HOME ORDER, SAY STATE'S PLAN IS WORKING

LINCOLN — About 90% of the nation’s population will be under stay-at-home orders by the end of the weekend to stem the spread of the coronavirus. But Gov. Pete Ricketts repeated Thursday that he’s not joining the crowd, despite urging from some fellow governors.

“Our plan is the right thing for us in Nebraska,” he said. “We need to do what’s right for Nebraska.”

That, so far, has been to order, county by county, directed health measures when the number of community spread cases of coronavirus reaches a certain threshold within a given public health district. Governors of 38 states have issued statewide shelter-in-place orders, telling residents to stay put except for essential errands. On Wednesday, one of those state executives, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, urged governors of Nebraska, Iowa and the 10 other states that have not followed suit to join them. 

Dr. James Lawler, a key adviser to the governor and an infectious disease authority at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, said a stay-at-home or shelter-in-place mandate is not needed “at this point in time.” Dr. Gary Anthone, the state’s chief medical officer, also said he firmly backs the governor’s approach. 

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BUFFALO COUNTY HEALTH CARE COALITION FORMS TO DEAL WITH COVID-19

KEARNEY — Members of the Buffalo County Health Care Coalition have begun meeting to share information, identify needs, direct resources and discuss how to best care for area patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Buffalo County could have approximately 1,000 hospitalized patients in coming weeks and months, based on health care experts who estimate roughly 40 percent of the general population may contract the virus that causes COVID-19 that could be 20,000.

An estimated 5 percent of that total may need hospitalization — that would be about 1,000 people in a county of 50,000.

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THE CARES ACT - WHAT TO KNOW AND WHAT IMPACT WILL IT HAVE ON ME?

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (“CARES”) was signed into law this week.  The CARES Act contains a wealth of provisions aimed to benefit small businesses and individuals.

Key programs contained in the act provide loans to help sustain small businesses and nonprofits, seeking to help these businesses to retain at least 90% of their workforces.  Guidance regarding how to apply for loans will be forthcoming.  The CARES Act creates a new type of SBA loan that is potentially 100% forgivable.  

Other benefits found in the CARES Act include the following: 

•    Business Tax Relief

 •    Employee Retention Credits 

•    Payroll Tax Deferral 

•    Carry back of net operating losses

 •    Business Interest Deductions

 •    Suspension of non-corporate loss limitation

 •    Alternative Minimum Tax Credits

 •    Certain Individual Relief and Assistance which are detailed following the link below. 

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NEBRASKA RECORDS FIRST TWO COVID-19 DEATHS, IN OMAHA AND HALL COUNTY, THIRD IN LINCOLN COUNTY

OMAHA - A 59-year-old Omaha man and a Hall County woman in her 60s have died from the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, officials said Friday in announcing the state’s first two COVID-19 deaths. On Monday the Department of Health and Human Services announced that a Lincoln County man in his 90s with underlying health conditions became the third Nebraska citizen to die from the virus. 

In a press release Friday afternoon, Douglas County health officials didn’t confirm the Omaha man’s specific age but said a man in his 50s with “serious underlying health conditions” was the first COVID-19 death in Douglas County. He died earlier this week.

Friday evening, the Central District Health Department reported “with deep sadness” that a hospitalized Hall County woman with underlying health problems had died Thursday of COVID-19. The woman was the third case of COVID-19 confirmed in Hall County, said Teresa Anderson, the director of the Central District Health Department.

DHHS also announced that Scotts Bluff County's first case, which was announced Sunday, was community-spread.First cases of COVID-19 were also reported in York, Kimball and Antelope counties, bringing the state's total cases to 155.

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BLUE CROSS CHANGES POLICY TO ENCOURAGE USE OF TELEHEALTH DURING CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

LINCOLN — A major Nebraska health insurer announced Friday that it is covering telehealth visits at the same level as regular office visits in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Nebraska will also waive copays and cost-sharing requirements for patients who make use of telehealth visits, said Dr. Bill McDonnell, the company’s medical director. He said the policy change was made to protect patients and providers, while making care more accessible. It can also help doctors and other health care providers keep their offices open at a time when people are going out in public less.

Under the new policy, anything that normally would have been covered for an in-person visit to a health care provider will now be covered at the same level for a visit using telehealth, McDonnell said. The policy change is slated to be in effect through June 30. Company officials will decide later whether to continue it.

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CLINICAL TRIALS ARE ONLY WAY TO FIND SAFE TREATMENTS THAT WORK ON COVID-19, UNMC RESEARCHER SAYS

OMAHA - Testing potential treatments for COVID-19 in controlled clinical trials is the only way to keep patients safe — and the only way to find treatments that really work, a University of Nebraska Medical Center researcher wrote this week. Dr. Andre Kalil, a professor at UNMC and infectious diseases physician with Nebraska Medicine, wrote about the need for careful testing of potential treatments for the novel coronavirus in an opinion piece published online in the Journal of the American Medical Association. 

“We have to do the right science that is going to protect patients from getting hurt … and we need a cure,” he said in an interview. “And we cannot find a cure if we don’t do these studies.”

Kalil is leading the UNMC arm of a national trial of an experimental antiviral drug called remdesivir. So far, about 100 patients, all with more serious cases of COVID-19 affecting the lungs, have been enrolled nationwide.

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RICKETTS WARNS TOUGH MONTH AHEAD; CORONAVIRUS EXPECTED TO PEAK IN STATE IN APRIL

LINCOLN- Gov. Pete Ricketts cautioned Nebraskans on Monday to expect "a tough month ahead" as the state anticipates that the coronavirus threat will peak in Nebraska in mid- to late-April.

March already has been "a trying month," the governor said during his daily coronavirus news briefing, with the virus beginning to creep into communities throughout the state and claim its first victims, including a Lincoln County man in his 90s, whose death was announced Monday.

The Washington Post on Monday published the results of a national modeling study by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington that projects there will be 424 coronavirus deaths in Nebraska by Aug. 4.That study matches projections by federal scientists, the Post story said.

Ricketts said the state is "actually still working through our models and has nothing yet to compare" with those projections.

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TEN ADDITIONAL COVID-19 CASES CONFIRMED AT CARTER HOUSE

WASHINGTON COUNTY, Neb.  — The ten new cases are the latest in an outbreak at Carter Place Senior Living. Late last week officials said an infected staff member at Carter Place came to work after having attended an event attended by others known to be carrying the coronavirus.

In the days that followed, residents, staff, and a team of volunteer firefighters came in contact with the virus. Health officials decided to test all residents and staff.And the state Department of Health and Human Services announced Sunday that residents will be temporarily moved.

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GOV. RICKETTS EXTENDS STATEWIDE SOCIAL DISTANCING RESTRICTIONS UNTIL APRIL 30TH & NEW UNEMPLOYMENT PROGRAMS

LINCOLN – Monday, Governor Pete Ricketts held a press conference to announce that the State of Nebraska has extended statewide social distancing restrictions through April 30th.  Earlier in March, the State of Nebraska issued social distancing restrictions for the entire state.  
In addition to these social distancing restrictions, 30 counties are currently covered by a Directed Health Measure. 

At the news conference, Gov. Ricketts detailed new unemployment programs being implemented in Nebraska as a result of federal legislation to aid the pandemic response.  The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Donald J. Trump on March 27, 2020. These programs include: 

• Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) – Allows unemployment benefits to individuals who have exhausted all other unemployment benefits, and those not eligible for other unemployment benefits, including workers who are self-employed and independent contractors.  The minimum PUA weekly payment will be $174 and top out at $440.

• Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) – This emergency increase in Unemployment Insurance Benefits adds $600 per week in federal benefits to the unemployment benefit amount for COVID-19 unemployment claims, including PUA claims.

• Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) – Allows 13 weeks of federally funded benefits to be added to the end of the normal 26 weeks of benefits.

• Short Time Compensation Programs (also known as Work Share) – Provides federal funding of Short-Time Compensation, a program that allows businesses to uniformly reduce their teammates’ hours while the workers receive a partial unemployment benefit

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NEBRASKA MEDICINE STUDY SUGGESTS COVID-19 PATIENTS LIKELY CONTAMINATE THEIR SURROUNDINGS

OMAHA - A study released Sunday by Nebraska Medicine/UNMC suggests people with COVID-19 can produce widespread contamination of their environment.

The study, based on samples taken from the rooms of COVID-19 patients, does not prove the virus spreads in airborne fashion, according to Nebraska Medicine researchers.The report noted that COVID-19 found in air samples provided only limited evidence that there is the potential for airborne transmission.

But the research found high levels of the virus on commonly-used surfaces and in the air of rooms of COVID-19 patients. In a news release, Nebraska Medicine also reported evidence in COVID-19 in air samplers outside of rooms where COVID-19 patients were treated.The study also suggests COVID-19 patients with even mild symptoms may be spread the virus and contaminate surfaces through coughing.

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GOV. RICKETTS TELLS CNN THAT NEBRASKA WILL MAKE DECISIONS ON CORONAVIRUS RESTRICTIONS

OMAHA - Gov. Pete Ricketts, speaking on Jake Tapper’s Sunday show on CNN, said Nebraska will follow its own plans and guidelines on when to open local schools and businesses. The governor, video chatting from his Omaha home, said Nebraska will not change its novel coronavirus plans based on the federal government’s efforts to speed at least some reopening.

Ricketts said Nebraska has performed about 2,000 tests for COVID-19, the abbreviation for coronavirus disease 2019. The state’s plans were designed for being short on tests, he said. That will be adjusted as more become available.Tapper asked Ricketts how prepared Nebraska’s rural health system is to handle the spread of coronavirus and on the need for ICU space, which is spare in much of the state.

Ricketts said the key to helping rural hospitals is managing the spread of the virus and making sure testing protocols and availability are the same in rural areas as urban.

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'TO-GO' COCKTAILS OF UP TO 1 GALLON ALLOWED UNDER RICKETTS' EMERGENCY ORDER

LINCOLN — Let the good times roll, but roll at least 6 feet apart.

Nebraskans can purchase cocktails to go of up to 1 gallon in size under the emergency order signed Thursday evening by Gov. Pete Ricketts. The governor waived current laws against such sales in an effort to help taverns and lounges shuttered by the coronavirus outbreak.

But the state liquor commission warned that such “to-go” cocktails can’t be opened in a vehicle or just outside the tavern, or the purchaser risks violations of laws banning open containers of alcohol.

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13 NEW COVID-19 CASES IN NEBRASKA BRING STATE'S TOTAL TO 81

Health officials reported 13 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, raising the known number of cases in Nebraska to 81. Douglas County Health Department Director Adi Pour announced that four more people have tested positive for the coronavirus, bringing the county total to 44.

Sarpy County health officials reported two new cases, bringing that county's total to eight. The South Heartland District Health Department reported two cases. One involves a man in his 40s who is currently hospitalized in Adams County. The other is a man in his 50s who is a Colorado resident currently hospitalized in Adams County.  

Kearney County reported one case, a man in his 20s who is self-isolating. Two Buffalo County residents tested positive — a woman in her 80s and a man in his 90s who are currently hospitalized.The Central District Health Department, which covers Hall, Hamilton and Merrick Counties, reported two cases but did not specify which counties the cases are in. 

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