Sep 13, 2020

3 more Nebraska prisons employees test positive for virus

Posted Sep 13, 2020 8:28 PM

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - Three more state corrections employees have tested positive for the coronavirus, state prisons officials said.

An employee at the Nebraska State Penitentiary in Lincoln and two employees at the state Diagnostic and Evaluation Center are the latest to test positive for COVID-19, the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services said in a news release Saturday.

With the new cases, a total of 85 state prisons workers across the state have now tested positive for the virus. Sixty-three of those have recovered.

Officials said that anyone who had close contact with the ill employees will be notified and directed to quarantine until they are cleared by a doctor.

The agency said on its website that 184 inmates across the state had tested positive for the coronavirus as of Friday. Officials said 126 of those positive cases have been found at the State Penitentiary in Lincoln.

Health officials said Nebraska has now confirmed 38,108 cases of coronavirus since the pandemic began, including 267 new cases reported Saturday. There have also been 434 deaths.

The seven-day rolling average of daily new cases in Nebraska has risen over the past two weeks from 258.57 new cases per day on Aug. 29 to 311.43 new cases per day on Sept. 12.