COVID exposure delays Superior council meeting

COVID-19 and quarantine requirements continue to disrupt the flow of city government,

The Superior City Council’s first meeting of November was cancelled because a member had been exposed to COVID and could not attend. Quarantine requirements related to that exposure has caused the meeting scheduled for Monday to be delayed until Tuesday.

The Omaha World-Herald reported on Tuesday that Nebraska marked its third straight weekly increase in COVID-19 cases last week, making Nebraska part of a surge of cases occurring across the Northern states as cooler weather sends people indoors.

The state recorded 6,137 new coronavirus cases in the week ending Friday, up from 5,202 the previous week.

Nebraska’s per capita rate of new cases now is almost double the U.S. rate and the 14th-highest in the country,

We haven’t seen the latest report but in at least one recent week, Jewell County had the highest per capita infection rate of any of the 105 Kansas counties.

Dr. James Lawler, a co-executive director of the Nebraska Medical Center’s Global Center for Health Security, told the World-Herald “Even though people want to pretend like the pandemic is over in our state, it is not. We are in a tough situation, particularly looking at the oncoming flu cases. The way to fix this is to get vaccinated.”

The holidays, he said, stand to add to the spread. To minimize it, he said, everyone should get vaccinated, get a booster if they’re eligible, wear masks in public and avoid large gatherings and those in confined indoor spaces.”

For Thanksgiving, he said, having a small gathering of all vaccinated people in a large room with good ventilation will significantly reduce the risk.

In Nebraska that state vaccination rate for adults is 70.2 percent, Nebraska has recorded 3,048 deaths during the pandemic, according the Center for Disease Control. The state dashboard lists 297,217 cases of COVID-19.

The New York Times newspaper reported 68 cases in Nuckolls County within the Nov. 2-15 time period. Earlier this week the newspaper reported a total of 663 cases in Nuckolls County and 12 deaths. For the entire state there had been 2,801 deaths attributed to COVID-19.

The New York Times said Jewell County reported 99 cases in the Nov. 2-15 period. Smith County had 15, Republic County 34, Webster County 9, Clay County 50, and Thayer County 21.

A total of 519 COVID-19 cases have been confirmed in Jewell County with 11 deaths. Mitchell County has 849 cases and 17 deaths, Republic 922 cases and 14 deaths, Smith 420 cases and 3 deaths and Cloud, 1,516 cases and 30 deaths.

In Nebraska, Clay County has had 976 cases and 17 deaths, Thayer County 731 cases with 7 deaths, Webster County 508 cases and 8 deaths, and Clay County 976 cases and 17 deaths.