FREMONT – As Nebraska prepares to cross the 10,000 case mark in COVID-19 infections this weekend, testing is slowly ramping up. More counties than not are now under relaxed DHM restrictions.
Outbreak in Madison
A joint news release by Tyson Foods and the Elkhorn Logan Valley Public Health Department says 212 workers at the Tyson pork plant in Madison tested positive for the virus; 74 of them had no symptoms.
The high volume of positive tests were the results from May 1-4 mass testing of 1,467 workers, contractors and vendors at the plant. The plant was shut down during that time for deep cleaning and sanitization.
The outbreak at this plant has been ongoing since at least April 23rd, when the Elkhorn Logan Valley Public Health Department and Tyson Foods issued a joint press release reminding workers of their “14 days out” policy for anyone showing symptoms, with children showing symptoms, or who had tested positive. Tyson has been widely criticized for not doing enough to protect its employees from infection.
Unemployment numbers stabilizing
The number of Nebraskans filing new unemployment claims appears to be stabilizing, but at a level higher than it was before the coronavirus pandemic.
The U.S. Department of Labor says Nebraska state officials received 6,408 new jobless claims during the week that ended March 9. Last week, the state reported 6,418 claims.
The number of claims surged to a record 26,788 in early April and has slowly trended downward since.
Unemployment in Nebraska, and nationally, has surged as the state and various health departments imposed social distancing restrictions to try to keep the coronavirus from overwhelming local hospitals.
TestNebraska not meeting testing numbers, coming under criticism
Nebraska may not make its goal of conducting 3,000 coronavirus tests per day by the end of May through the state’s TestNebraska program, but Governor Pete Ricketts says he’s confident testers will reach that pace “at some point” if residents continue to sign up.
His comments came after state officials reported that the program produced only 2,358 test results last week – far short of the 3,000 per day that was expected by the end of the month, when the ramp-up period is supposed to end.
Ricketts announced the $27 million coronavirus testing contract with Utah-based Nomi Health and three other firms on April 21, along with plans for a five-week ramp-up period to reach the estimated 3,000 tests per day.
Senators Machaela Cavanaugh, District 6,Megan Hunt, District 8, Carol Blood, District 3, and Rick Kolowski, District 31, sent a letter to Governor Pete Ricketts this week asking him to terminate Nebraska’s agreement with Nomi Health, the company behind the TestNebraska initiative immediately and reinvest the 27 million dollars to be given to the Utah based company back into Nebraska’s public health and healthcare system.
The four Senators also raised concerns around the ability of Nomi to deliver on the contract and provide good stewardship of taxpayer dollars.
“Nomi Health has failed to deliver the contractually required number of daily tests and has also failed to meet the contractually required 48-hour turnaround time for test results. Recent news reports about the financial relationship between Nomi Health’s leadership and the manufacturer of the drug hydroxychloroquine, which until recently was featured in the TestNebraska questionnaire, have also raised concerns about the company’s stewardship of the tax dollars and personal information of Nebraskans.”
“We ask that you turn the assessment questionnaire process over to the Nebraska Health Information Exchange (NEHII), which already is Nebraska’s Medical Information Repository and HIPAA compliant, and consider coordinating with companies in Nebraska’s own Silicon Prairie to find a tech solution tailored for our state.”
“During this economic crisis it is also vitally important that every dollar we have be prioritized for reinvestment into Nebraska to strengthen our existing healthcare infrastructure.”
Under Nebraska’s contract with Nomi Health, Nebraska may terminate the contract at any time before May 19th.
Governor Ricketts called this criticism “ludicrous,” and has expressed no intention of terminating the contract.
By the numbers
As of Thursday, May 14th, the State of Nebraska has 9,416 lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 infection. Just over 53,000 tests have been completed. 113 Nebraskans have died as a result of the novel coronavirus.
53% of the state’s hospital beds are currently occupied – 58% of the state’s ICU beds are full. Of the state’s total 784 ventilators, DHHS reports 190 in use.
