After having one of the lowest number of COVID-19 cases in the Panhandle through the first half of the summer, Dawes County has been a minor hot spot.
Panhandle Unified Command says 5 of the region’s 8 new cases on Friday were from Dawes County. That comes on the heels of 1 on Thursday, 3 earlier in the week, and 5 since the last week of July. Nearly all of this week’s cases are listed community spread with no clear infection point.
Unified Command recorded 8 more recoveries on Friday, including 3 in Box Butte County and 1 each in Dawes and Sheridan. The Panhandle has now had 489 cases, 427 recoveries, and 6 deaths with 56 currently active cases, including 3 who are hospitalized.
Nebraska Health and Human Services reported 243 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday for a total of 30,241 but the number of deaths stayed at 361.
The number of recoveries is now at 22,251 with 7,629 active cases, including 144 who are hospitalized. 37% of both all hospital beds and ICU beds in the state remain available along with 79% of respirators.