At a press conference on Oct. 16, Governor Pete Ricketts announced changes to his DHM in response to the surge of coronavirus cases.
“I want to remind people that we still have the pandemic,” said Ricketts. “There’s still the virus around. It’s still important that you wear that mask, that you wash your hands and that you maintain that six-foot distance between you and other people. All the steps we’ve taken, all the restrictions we’ve put in place are to preserve our hospital capacity.”
Ricketts said that as of Friday, the state was at 30 percent capacity for hospital beds, 29 percent for beds in intensive care units and 77 percent for ventilators.
“One of the things that we have seen is, we have seen an increasing number of hospitalizations,” Ricketts said. “As of last night (Oct. 15), we had 323 people in the hospital, which is nearly 40 percent more than when we had our peak hospitalizations back in May. While we have seen increasing testing and increasing cases, and what I really want to focus on is those hospitalizations. It’s pained me to put in place these restrictions on people’s personal liberty, and for government to tell businesses how they have to run, but it’s been necessary to be able to preserve that hospital capacity.”
In response to the increase in hospitalizations, Ricketts unveiled a campaign encouraging Nebraska’s citizens to avoid that “Three C’s”: crowded places, close contact and confined spaces.
“Folks, I know everyone is tired of the pandemic; they’re tired of wearing masks, avoiding, you know, large crowds—they want to be with people and be with family. But we still have the virus in our community, and as the increasing number of hospitalizations demonstrate, that it is, in some cases spreading very widely,” said Ricketts.
Ricketts cited information from public health departments throughout the state, noting that the majority of new cases are arising from informal gatherings.
“It’s important to remember that, just because you know somebody doesn’t mean they can’t give it to you,” Ricketts said. “If you know somebody, they can still give you the virus: the virus is spread from one person to another. So, we have to be able to slow this stuff down.”
Ricketts revealed the changes to the Directed Health Measures, which take effect on Oct. 21. One of the changes is that hospitals must maintain at least 10 percent of their staffed general and ICU beds for COVID-19 patients, and continue to accept and treat COVID-19 patients. Hospitals also will not be allowed to transfer COVID-19 patients to other hospitals to maintain the 10 percent of beds. Otherwise the hospital will not be allowed to conduct elective surgeries.
Patrons of bars and restaurants must remain seated unless placing an order, using the restroom or playing games—groups of eight people or more will be required to split into multiple tables.
Occupancy for indoor gatherings will be limited to 50 percent of rated occupancy, though outdoor gatherings will remain at 100 percent of rated occupancy, not to exceed 10,000. Plans for reopening or expanding capacity limits must be submitted to public health districts.
Wedding and funeral receptions will be limited to a maximum of eight individuals in a party, with larger groups being required to split into multiple tables. The 100 percent of rated occupancy will continue, though dances and other social events will be limited.
The changes to the DHM will remain in effect through Nov. 30.
“I know people are tired, it’s painful, but we have got to have renewed emphasis on making sure that we’re following these rules to slow the spread of the virus,” said Ricketts.