First COVID death confirmed in southwest health district

    The Southwest Nebraska Public Health Department (SWNPHD), which includes Imperial and Chase County, has recorded its first COVID-19 death.
    The death occurred earlier this week, said SWNPHD Director Myra Stoney.
    “We are not releasing the county of death, and are not giving out specifics such as age or gender,” Stoney said.
    “Our numbers (in health district) are too low for this information not to identify the person,” she added.
    Eventually, the Nebraska Dept. of Health and Human Services (DHHS) will include it on their website, she said.
    As of Wednesday morning, location of the SWNPHD death was not yet listed by DHHS.
    The number of cases in the SWNPHD did not change from last week’s number. It remains at 19 since early last week.
    One case has been reported in each of Chase, Frontier and Hitchcock counties, while there are two cases in Keith, five in Red Willow and nine cases in Furnas County.
    Three of the district’s counties, Dundy, Hayes and Perkins, still have no confirmed cases.
    Eighteen of those 19 cases have recovered, Stoney said.
State deaths slowing
    Nebraska recorded fewer COVID-19 deaths the past week with an increase of 10 since last week at this time.
    As of late Tuesday afternoon, deaths in Nebraska were at 191, up from 181 on June 3.
    That compares to an increase of 31 deaths the week before,  from May 27-June 3.
    Testing has increased considerably across the state with multiple testing sites announced, one of which is in Imperial today (Thursday).
    Of the 122,850 people tested across the state, 15,752 positive cases resulted. There were 106,940 people tested in which the virus was not detected.
    The vast majority of Nebraskans, 76.2%, who have died from COVID-19 are age 65 and older, according to the Nebraska Dept. of Health and Human Services (DHHS).
    DHHS operates a COVID-19 information line to help answer questions and share the latest information. The number is (402) 552-6645 or toll-free at (833) 998-2275. Calls are taken 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. CDT seven days a week.