BURWELL–One (1) new case of COVID-19 was reported in Loup Basin Public Health Department’s (LBPHD) district since June 12, 2020 at 8:00 a.m. Patient information is considered protected health information under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and will not be provided to protect the patient’s privacy.
According to a June 19 Facebook post, LBPHD reported a positive case of COVID-19 in Howard County. The case was determined to be community spread.
LBPHD would like to remind residents that community spread is present in the area and you should assume COVID-19 is present in your community. Continue to practice social distancing, good hand hygiene, and wearing a mask in public settings where social distancing can be difficult.
The new case brings the district’s total to 97 COVID-19 cases. The cases are in the following counties:
Howard – 43
Custer – 39
Valley – 6
Greeley – 4
Sherman – 4
Garfield – 1
There have been 2,235 negative COVID-19 tests received from commercial and public health laboratories, an increase of 138 in the last week. No additional coronavirus related deaths were reported this week, the district’s total remains at eight (Custer – 4, Howard – 4).
LBPHD is reporting recovered data. Due to not having a CDC approved definition, LBPHD has defined those as recovered as individuals who have met the CDC criteria for discontinuation of isolation. As of June 19th, 69 individuals have met the criteria (Custer – 33, Howard – 26, Valley – 4, Sherman – 3, Greeley – 3).
This week, Governor Ricketts announced the next steps in the State’s phased plan to loosen restrictions that have been in place during the coronavirus pandemic. LBPHD’s district will be moving into Phase 3 of the Directed Health Measures (DHMs) on June 22, 2020. More information on the outline of Phase 3 can be found on Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) website (http://dhhs.ne.gov/Pages/COVID-19-Directed-Health-Measures.aspx).
It was also announced this week that the long-term care (LTC) and assisted living (AL) facilities in Nebraska will be working in conjunction with DHHS and local health departments to responsibly ease restrictions in these facilities that have been in lockdown for several months. The phases for reopening mirror the Directed Health Measure phases and allow a facility a standardized tool to determine when they should ease restrictions based off their community data.
Loup Basin Public Health Department serves nine counties including Blaine, Custer, Garfield, Greeley, Howard, Loup, Sherman, Valley and Wheeler.
