Southern Nebraska health professionals participated in press briefing coordinated by the South Heartland Health District and held last Wednesday afternoon. The briefing was recorded and is available on the agency’s web site.
It was apparent those participating in the briefing want area residents to get vaccinated in an effort the curb the impact of COVID-19.
Several area physicians including Dr. Timothy Blecha of Superior, participated and discussed the ongoing pandemic, The number of cases in the South Heartland District is increasing but has not yet reach proportions being experienced in Florida.
It was reported a large number of children are getting sick with the arrival of seasonal influenza. Dr. Danny Leonard, a pediatrician, spoke about the danger of a “twin-demic” combing influenza and COVID. He said the community doesn’t have enough resourees to handle large numbers of patients dealing with multiple threats.
Dr. Adam Horn, chief medical officer at Mary Lanning , said there is a legitimate concern statewide about hospital bed availability. He encouraged eligible people to become vaccinated.
Michele Bever, health department director, said there were 39 new confirmed cases in the four-county district for the week of Aug. 8-14. That total exceeded the July monthly total and was up 22 percent from the total for the previous calender week.
The report for the week ending Aug. 21 was not prepared prior to the printing of this newspaper. However 28 cases were confirmed in the first three days of the week.
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