Hastings, Neb – In the weekly COVID-19 update on April 26, South Heartland District Health Department (SHDHD) executive director Michele Bever reported that the number of new COVID-19 cases each week has been remaining fairly stable at low to moderate levels for the health district. 

“We continue to have newly-confirmed cases across our district, as well as spread from those cases. However, overall, the rates of new cases have been fairly stable, at low to moderate levels,” Bever said. “Last week we logged four confirmed cases and we’ve logged five so far this week. We are aware of additional cases who tested positive using at-home tests, but these are not included in our reports of confirmed cases,” she said. 

Since last week’s report, the health department noted that a second sequenced specimen had been identified as the BA.2 variant.  “What residents need to know about BA.2 is that it is more highly transmissible than the original omicron variant. However, COVID-19 vaccination is effective in protecting against severe BA.2 illness, hospitalization and death,” Bever said. 

Bever said the C.D.C.’s Community Levels, which are updated weekly on Thursdays and are a combined metric that includes hospital data, currently show Adams County at “medium” level and Clay, Nuckolls and Webster Counties at “low” community level.  

The health department is also receiving favorable reports from surveillance testing in the long-term care facilities. According to Bever, in the past 2 weeks, only one long-term care facility reported any residents or staff testing positive for COVID-19. 

“Although our local cases are fairly low and restrictions have relaxed in most places here and across the country, it remains important for each person to evaluate their individual risk of being exposed to this ever-changing respiratory virus and to take steps to protect themselves and others, accordingly,” Bever said.  

Bever said this is especially important for people who live with, work with, or care for others who are more likely to have severe illness, and for people who are more likely to get very sick with COVID-19 themselves. “We encourage everyone to be supportive of those who want to or need to take precautions around others,” she said. 

“Studies show that protection from severe illness is higher in individuals who are fully vaccinated and boosted,” Bever said. “We recommend for residents to be up-to-date on their COVID vaccinations. This means getting the initial series, followed by a booster after the recommended length of time, and then a second booster for those who are eligible,” she said. 

For locations of offering COVID-19 vaccine or COVID-19 tests, refer to the SHDHD website, southheartlandhealth.org.  

Additional SHDHD COVID-19 data updates: 

• 4 confirmed COVID-19 cases logged last week compared to 8 the week before; 5 confirmed cases counted in the current week through Tuesday.  

• Cumulative case total for the health district is 10,258 since March 2020. 

• Rolling 7-day total of new cases per 100,000 people is 15.5 cases per 100K, considered moderate (April 26). “Low” community transmission is less than 10 cases per 100K in the past 7 days. 

• Percent positive tests, or positivity: Community positivity (based on tests in people who do not live or work in long term care) decreased 

•  to 5.0% for the week ending April 23, indicating one of every 20 people who were tested were positive for COVID-19. Goal for “low” transmission is to sustain below 5% positivity. 

• Testing decreased by 7% with 172 tests logged last week compared to 185 the previous week. Reminder: at-home/self-tests are not included in the case or test counts. 

• Hospital capacity metrics as of April 26: one COVID-positive inpatient; 27.3% of staffed ICU beds available.  

• SHDHD COVID-19 vaccination: 49% of all residents are fully vaccinated and 29% are boosted. To date, 6% of children ages 5-11, 19% of children ages 12-15, and 24% of young people ages 16-19; 43% of ages 20-34; 54% of ages 35-44; 55% of ages 45-54; 62% of ages 55-64; 90% of ages 65-74; 90% of ages 75-84; and 95% of ages 85+ are fully vaccinated.