By JOSH FUNK-Associated Press
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts announced new restrictions Monday requiring masks in certain circumstances to slow the spread of the coronavirus, but he continued to reject the idea of a statewide mask mandate.
Under the new restrictions that take effect on Wednesday, masks will be required at businesses where employees have close contact with customers for more than 15 minutes, such as salons and massage parlors. At bars, masks will be required when people aren't drinking or eating.
"I think mask mandates just breed resistance from people," Ricketts said. "I think what we have to do is continue to educate people about when you use a mask."
The new rules also include restricting indoor gatherings to 25% of a building's capacity, down from the current 50% rule, and attendance at youth sporting events will be limited to the immediate families of participants. But restaurants and bars can continue operating at full capacity as long as they maintain 6 feet of distance between tables and limit groups to no more than eight people.
"We've taken the approach the entire time along that we are going to work to be able to preserve our hospital capacity," Ricketts said. "That said, we are going to try to keep it as light a touch as possible so that we can preserve people's freedoms to the extent that we can and try to find that balancing act between the two."
Ricketts announced the new rules as the state reported 794 people were hospitalized with the virus Sunday, up from the previous day's record of 760 - more than double the number of hospitalizations three weeks ago. The rate of new virus cases in the state remained the seventh-highest in the nation on Sunday.
Nebraska reported 1,574 new cases Sunday to give the state 83,969 total cases since the pandemic began. The number of deaths linked to the virus remained unchanged at 703 Sunday, according to the state's online virus tracker.
The seven-day rolling average of daily new cases in Nebraska increased over the past two weeks from 840.14 new cases per day on Oct. 25 to 1,666.14 new cases per day on Sunday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
The rate of new cases per 100,000 Nebraska residents over the past two weeks registered 1,045.58 on Sunday, according to an Associated Press analysis of data from Johns Hopkins University.