Nebraska continued its two-month downward trend in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations last week.
However, the exact number of cases the state recorded last week isn’t entirely certain. The state reported a negative number of cases this week to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
State health officials said the negative number is the result of efforts to clean up 2021 data and remove duplicate tests. A recent review revealed 181 duplicate cases out of a total of 477,083. But health officials emphasized that the state had recorded eight consecutive weeks of decline.
The state’s dashboard indicated 330 cases for the week ending Sunday. That would be down from the 354 cases the state reported in the previous week. Douglas, Lincoln, Lancaster and Sarpy/Cas Health Departments, which cover the state’s three most populous counties, reported a slight decrease in cases last week compared to the previous week.
The average number of Nebraskans hospitalized with COVID last week was down 21% — to 109 — from the previous week. On Thursday, 93 Nebraskans were hospitalized with the virus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the first time the number has fallen below 100 since July. By Sunday, the number had dropped to 91.
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The state reported six confirmed and probable deaths, the lowest in several weeks, bringing the epidemic total to 4,053.
Nationally, reports of novel coronavirus cases have also continued to decline, although the decline has slowed recently. Several states in the Northeast and South have seen an increase in cases over the past two weeks with the emergence of sub variant BA.2.
For the nation as a whole, the variant made up an estimated 35% of the genomically sequenced samples during the week ending March 19. However, BA.2 percentages varied from 55% in New England to 19% in all four. The area of the state that includes Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, and Missouri. The subvariable is believed to be 30% to 50% more transmissible than omicron. However, it is not thought to cause more serious disease.
The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services on Monday launched two new tools to track COVID-19 and its variants, as well as other viruses that may emerge in the future, using genetic monitoring and sewage testing.
Scientists from a number of laboratories have already sequenced the genetic code of selected positive test samples, helping researchers better understand how the virus evolves and assess threats to the public.
Now, the weekly page that updates the number of variants detected in the state will be replaced by a new page on genomics and wastewater.
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According to the preliminary data on the page, BA.2 made up 7% of samples analyzed for the week ending March 19 in Nebraska. This is up about 1% from the previous two weeks. The data will be updated every two weeks.
State health officials are also working with researchers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and UNMC School of Public Health as well as wastewater facilities across the state to monitor the virus in wastewater.
People infected with COVID-19 shed the virus in their faeces. Researchers can measure virus concentrations in wastewater samples collected from wastewater treatment plants prior to treatment. Because it is not based on people who recognize symptoms and get tested, wastewater monitoring data can serve as an early warning system for increases or decreases in COVID-19 cases in the community. In other parts of the country, this data has been used by public health officials to send resources such as additional testing to areas with higher concentrations.
The CDC established a national wastewater monitoring system to collect reports from across the country. Nebraska data did not appear on the CDC’s website on Monday.
But the state report included sewage sampling data from two sewage treatment plants in Douglas and Lancaster counties and from plants in Grand Island, Columbus, Fremont, Wayne, Kearney, Hastings, Scottsbluff, Chadron and Atkinson.
Meanwhile, health officials have urged vaccination and boosters as the best way to protect against another surge in cases. Federal health officials are discussing a second booster injection, most likely for those over 50. People with weakened immune systems are already urged to get a fourth dose.
But reinforcements in general have been delayed. More than half of Nebraska adults received an initial booster dose. Of Nebraskans age 18 and older, 62.9% received primary vaccinations. Of these, 53% received reinforcement.
This means that only 39.4% of adults in Nebraska have received all authorized shots. That’s just above the US average of 36.3% and ranks 21st among states.
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