Hospitalizations on the rise

MCCOOK, Neb. -Southwest Nebraska Public Health Department (SWNPHD) is working closely with the Nebraska Plains Healthcare Coalition (NPHCC) to help area hospitals and clinics coordinate care for people hospitalized with COVID-19. NPHCC is assisting hospitals with medical surge planning in order to spread the patient load across all hospitals. Surge planning is a key preparedness tool for responding to disasters and other events that may exceed the limits of the normal medical infrastructure.

There are multiple cases of COVID-19 that are currently hospitalized throughout the health district and across the state of Nebraska. “At this time, it is very important to protect our hospitals’ ability to care for everyone in our communities. We have seen a continued rise in COVID hospitalizations that is making it difficult for our hospitals to function,” states Melissa Propp, Public Health Nurse for SWNPHD. “These cases are on top of the normal day to day hospitalizations related to diabetes, heart disease, and other chronic conditions, which makes it challenging to take patients with medical emergencies. We continue to encourage vaccination for all people aged 12 and over.”

SWNPHD is working to share reliable information about the COVID vaccines and answer questions the public may have, such as can a person who has been vaccinated make someone else sick? You cannot shed live virus after you get vaccinated against COVID-19. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines only produce a piece of the virus, not the entire virus. Your body recognizes that piece, the spike protein, and builds immunity to recognize it when it comes into contact with any live COVID-19 virus. The virus is only shed and contagious to others when someone is exposed to a person who is infected with COVID-19.

SWNPHD had 36 new cases of COVID-19 reported from August 10th to August 16th, 2021, bringing the weekly average to 35.5 cases per week. The total number of cases is 4,070. Vaccination rates across the health district have reached 43%. This number includes fully vaccinated as well as partially vaccinated individuals.

Visit swhealth.ne.gov for information on COVID-19. You can also follow SWNPHD on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. SWNPHD serves Chase, Dundy, Frontier, Furnas, Hayes, Hitchcock, Keith, Perkins, and Red Willow counties. SWNPHD is located at 404 West 10th St (1 block north of Arby’s) in McCook and can be reached by calling 308-345-4223.