Lincoln, Lancaster County Restrictions May Remain Longer

Lincoln, NE (April 24, 2020) Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird acknowledged Friday that Governor Pete Ricketts announced a lifting of some of the Covid 19 restrictions for parts of the State on May 4th.  She said discussions are underway about when restrictions might be lifted in Lincoln.

“Our restrictions went into effect later, and are scheduled to last longer than May 4th” she said.  “One of our key metrics has been a decreasing number of daily cases.  Our numbers have been increasing”.

City-County Health Director Pat Lopez said the last week has seen 50 new cases, and the positivity rate has also been increasing.  “The number of tests resulting in positives was around 4%” she said.  “Lately though, it has gone up to 6%” calling it “disturbing”.

Mayor Gaylor Baird said testing will be the key to holding down the spread of the virus, and indicating when restrictions might be eased.  She noted that only about 70% of the testing capacity in the City is being used currently, and asked that anyone with symptoms take advantage of the opportunity to be tested.  The first step, she said, is to take an online screening at the website of either Bryan Health or CHI Health.