OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - Nebraska kicked off the week by registering nearly 500 new cases of the coronavirus as the state continues to see its number of cases climb, state health statistics showed.
The state's online virus tracking site showed 495 new cases of the virus were confirmed on Sunday in the state, and more than 2,320 cases were confirmed Friday through Sunday. That brought the state total to 52,382 confirmed cases and 519 deaths since the pandemic began.
The site also showed the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 - the disease caused by the virus - continued to grow. On Saturday, a new record of 305 people in Nebraska were hospitalized with the virus, which broke the previous day's record of 293 on Friday and was well above the spring peak of 232 set on May 27. On Sunday, the number of hospitalizations had dropped by one, to 304.
Even with the recent rise in cases, 28% of the state's intensive care beds and 76% of the ventilators remain available.
The state has the seventh-highest rate of new cases, 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 to nearly 641 per day by Sunday, compared with nearly 400 new cases per day for the seven-day period prior.