OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - Nebraska's prisons, jails and detention centers continue to see staff infected with the new coronavirus, as the state's death toll and positive COVID-19 cases climbed Tuesday.
The Nebraska Department of Correctional Services reported Tuesday that a staff member at the Nebraska State Penitentiary has tested positive for the virus. That marked the seventh staff member at the penitentiary and the 12th throughout the state's prisons system to test positive since the outbreak began.
Officials in Omaha also confirmed a third officer with the Douglas County Department of Corrections has tested positive and has been hospitalized with COVID-19, and an employee of the Douglas County Youth Center has also tested positive.
Word of those new cases came as the state's online coronavirus tracker showed three more deaths from the virus Tuesday, bringing the state's total to 153. Among those deaths was a ninth at a west Omaha nursing home that has been ravaged by the virus. Of the 79 residents at Life Care Center of Elkhorn, 68 have tested positive. Another 264 cases were confirmed Tuesday, bringing Nebraska's total cases to more than 12,600.
For some infected people, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, the virus can cause severe illness or death. But for most people, it causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough, that clear up in two to three weeks.