Gov. Pete Ricketts announced Monday that Nebraska's COVID-19 state of emergency would end at 11:59 p.m. June 30.
The state of emergency was declared March 13, 2020.
Ricketts also announced the state would end its contract with Test Nebraska on July 31. The last date to get a test is July 18. Test Nebraska tested 772,000 Nebraskans, according to the governor.
Other testing, he said, is readily available.
The governor noted that state of emergency and directed health measures, which were lifted in May, were designed to slow the spread of COVID-19 and preserve the state's hospital capacity.
According to Ricketts, the state's current hospitalizations are at 27. Hospitalizations have been below 100 since May 15 and below 40 since June 16.
“The coronavirus is going to be with us forever. The virus is out there in the community,” he said. This was actually, I think, one of the mistakes of some of the lockdowns was that it created a sense that somehow you can stop the virus. You cannot stop it, it's a virus.”
Ricketts encouraged residents to get vaccinated.
“Vaccines work. We have proof of it here in Nebraska,” he said.
Ricketts said he also expects students to return to classrooms in the fall without mask or vaccine requirements.
“It's time to return to normal,” he said.
