Lincoln's Covid Death Toll Rises - KFOR FM 101.5 1240 AM

Lincoln, NE (December 7, 2020) Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird and the Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department (LLCHD) today announced that five more residents died from COVID-19, bringing the total number of deaths in Lancaster County to 98. The individuals were a woman in her 80s and a woman in her 90s, both in long-term care facilities, and three individuals who were hospitalized – a woman in her 50s, a woman in her 70s and a man in his 70s.

LLCHD reports 204 lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Lancaster County today, bringing the community total to 18,820. Over the past 15 days, Lancaster County has averaged 277 new cases each day.

INFORMATION SOURCES:

COVID19.lincoln.ne.gov has a dashboard that summarizes Lancaster County COVID-19 data. LLCHD also released the following information today:

Recoveries: up from 5,437 to 5,492

Weekly positivity rate:

November 29 through December 5: 33.9 percent
December 6 through 7: 27.6 percent

Hospitalizations for COVID-19 positive patients: 138 with 82 from Lancaster County (four on ventilators) and 56 from other communities (nine on ventilators).

The COVID-19 Risk Dial is in the red position indicating a severe risk of the virus spreading. Residents are advised to follow these recommendations to protect themselves and others:

Stay at home unless traveling for work, school, food or medical care or to check on others who may need assistance.
Work from home if possible.
Wear a face mask when interacting with anyone outside of your household.
Stay at least six feet away from anyone outside of your household.
Avoid gatherings.
Only visit businesses and participate in activities where public health guidelines are observed. The guidelines include mask wearing, physical distancing and capacity limits.
Follow travel guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control at cdc.gov.

Symptoms of COVID-19 include fever, cough, shortness of breath, repeated shaking with chills, repeated muscle pain, headache, sore throat, new loss of taste or smell. If you have symptoms, please get tested. Testing is now open to all Lancaster County residents by appointment only.

The testing process begins with a free online risk assessment available at BryanHealth.com, CHIHealth.com or TestNebraska.com. Drive through test sites include:

Bryan Health: Former Graham Tire Store, northeast corner of 19th and “O” streets.
Test Nebraska: Gateway Mall, 6100 “O” St., north parking lot of the former Sears store, 8 a.m. to noon and 1 to 6 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays. For more information visit testnebraska.com or call 402-207-9377.
CHI Health St. Elizabeth: Autumn Ridge Family Medicine, 5000 North 26th St. and Southwest Family Health, 1240 Aries Drive. Call either site to schedule an appointment: Autumn Ridge at 402-435-5300 and South West Family at 402-420-1300.

For more information, visit COVID19.lincoln.ne.gov or call the Health Department hotline at 402-441-8006.