During a press conference Friday, Gov. Pete Ricketts said as of Thursday, 905 people were in the hospital with coronavirus and that represents about 20 percent of the overall hospital beds being taken with coronavirus cases.
"Over the last several weeks that has increased from about 200 that we had on Sept. 23 to the 905 we have today," he said. "This is a very serious situation for our hospitals and we all need to be a part of slowing down the spread of the virus. Right now our hospital bed availability is at 25 percent, ICU capacity is at 27 percent and ventilator capacity is at 70 percent."
The governor presented a chart on what to expect if the hospital capacity reaches 25 percent and at the current capacity it would be 1,170 hospital patients. Youth extracurricular activities would be prohibited below high school level; bars would close with the exception of delivery and takeout; indoor gatherings would be limited to 10 people and outdoor gatherings would lower to 25 people. Elective in-patient surgeries would be postponed.
"We will continue to evaluate once we see what happens with our hospitalizations," he said. "When we would put these restrictions in is when we would reach 25 percent of our hospital capacity."
He said if these restrictions don't have the needed effect, additional restrictions would be added with regard to restaurants, gathering sizes, selective surgeries and more.
Ricketts encouraged people to return to the good habits as they did in the spring, which means keeping six feet of distance, wearing a mask in closed confined spaces and washing hands often.
Coronavirus cases
Infections Deaths
Washington County 776 10
Nebraska 98,161 779
U.S. 10846,373 244,810
*As of 8 a.m. Monday
