Oct 01, 2020

Nebraska virus hospitalizations at high level as cases rise

Posted Oct 01, 2020 12:03 AM

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 remains elevated as Nebraska continues to report hundreds of new cases each day, but the number of hospitalizations is still below the peak set in the spring.

The state's online virus tracker on Wednesday showed 215 people were hospitalized. Nebraska reported 466 new cases and six new deaths to give the state 45,044 cases and 478 deaths.

The number of people being treated in Nebraska hospitals remains below the peak of 232 set on May 27, but the number approached that when it hit 231 last Thursday. Hospitalizations were at their lowest in July when 95 people were being treated.

But the state said Wednesday that 27% of the intensive care beds and 78% of the ventilators in Nebraska remained available.

Nebraska continues to report a high rate of new cases. The seven-day rolling average of the positivity rate in Nebraska has risen over the past two weeks from 9.4% on Sept. 15 to 13.01% on Tuesday, according to an Associated Press analysis of data from Johns Hopkins University.

The seven-day rolling average of daily new cases in Nebraska has risen from 381 new cases per day on Sept. 15 to 455.71 new cases per day on Tuesday.