Covid Risk Dial Remains Yellow
Lincoln, NE (March 16, 2021) Last week was another record for Covid-19 vaccinations in Lancaster County, with over 18,000 doses administered, according to Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird. “We are moving quickly and efficiently through the list provided by the State”, the Mayor said in her weekly briefing. “We are also moving through the economics of recovering from the pandemic” she said.
Health Director Pat Lopez said this week’s clinics will continue to vaccinate people in Group 1-B, those over 65, and members of numerous other groups including educators, child care workers, postal and grocery store workers, and others. About 8,000 persons will receive vaccines each day at separate clinics the next three days.
The COVID-19 Risk Dial will remain in mid-yellow for a fifth consecutive week as key indicators continue to remain steady. The yellow position on the dial means that the risk of the virus spreading in the community is moderate. On the color-coded dial, red represents the highest risk of COVID-19 spread, and green represents the lowest risk. The dial is updated every Tuesday.
Lopez explained that the position of the Risk Dial is based on multiple local indicators and information from the previous three weeks.
- Over the last five weeks, the number of new weekly COVID-19 cases has varied only about 20 cases, fluctuating between 324 and 343. For the week ending March 13, 328 new cases were reported.
- The local positivity rate is now being calculated differently. The number of all positive tests is divided by the number of total tests. This method, which is used by the state, does count people who are tested multiple times. The positivity rate for March 7 through 13 was 4 percent.
- The number of COVID-19 patients hospitalized locally has been holding steady at about 25 to 30 per day.
