LLCHD Reports 19 COVID Deaths in September; monthly number of deaths decreasing

LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) – Lincoln-Lancaster County health officials have briefed the community on the city’s efforts to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

The LLCHD COVID-19 risk dial remains at high risk (orange).

Orange indicates that the risk of the virus spreading and the impact on our community is high. On the color-coded dial, red represents the highest risk of spreading COVID-19 and green represents the lowest risk.

Health director Pat Lopez said local conditions were improving steadily. “COVID-19 cases have declined each of the past four weeks – and that includes cases in school-aged children in Lancaster County,” Lopez said. “However, our positivity rate remains high – at just under 10% for the third week in a row – and our hospitals providing care to our relatives, friends and neighbors are still very stressed. It is clear that our efforts are having a positive impact, but we are not there yet and must continue to work together to ensure that our numbers move in the right direction.

The Risk Dial’s position is based on several local indicators and information from the previous three weeks.

Nineteen local residents died from COVID-19 in September compared to 27 in August. Fourteen of the 19 were not vaccinated. Nine of the people who died in September were under the age of 60 and the nine people were not vaccinated. As of March of this year, 67 residents have died from COVID-19 and 54, or 81%, were unvaccinated.

The number of Lancaster County residents hospitalized with COVID-19 has declined, but the number of out-of-county residents has increased, so the seven-day moving average of hospitalizations has remained stable over the past month. Today, 107 COVID-19 patients are hospitalized locally, including 22 on ventilators.

The seven-day moving average of daily new cases fell from a high of 135 cases on September 1 to 80 cases late last week, a drop of about 40%.

The community’s positivity rate has been around 10% for three consecutive weeks.

Lancaster County continues to have the highest vaccination rate in the state, with 74% of residents aged 16 and over fully vaccinated. Almost 60% of the county’s 319,000 residents are fully immunized. Some of those who are still not vaccinated are not yet eligible such as children under 12, but there are still around 66,000 residents who are eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine but have not yet received it.

For general information on COVID-19, visit covid19.lincoln.ne.gov or call the Department of Health hotline at 402-441-8006.

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