Nebraska virus hospitalizations jump over 700 this week

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The number of COVID-19 hospitalizations across Nebraska has jumped above 700 for the first time since December 2020 bringing the state closer to imposing additional restrictions on surgeries at hospitals.

Nebraska health officials said Wednesday that 714 people were hospitalized with the virus Tuesday, up from 643 the day before. The total remains below the all-time peak of 987 set in November 2020, but it has been increasing steadily since last month and hospital officials expect the number to continue growing because virus cases have been soaring.

State officials have said they will impose additional restrictions to protect hospital capacity when COVID-19 cases averaged over 15% of the total hospitalizations in Nebraska. Currently, 16% of the hospital patients are COVID-19 patients, but the seven-day average hasn’t yet topped 15%.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Nebraska has reported 18,574 new virus cases so far this week. Last week, the state reported 27,987 cases.

The seven-day rolling average of daily new cases in Nebraska has more than doubled over the past two weeks from 1,734.86 new cases per day on Jan. 3 to 4,158.86 new cases per day on Monday.