General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsDeep in Trump Country: Small-town ICU overwhelmed as 35.5% of tests return positive for COVID19
From April 14:
Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts said Monday that St. Francis Hospital in Grand Island counted four or five patients in its intensive care unit one week ago. Now, more than a dozen of its ICU beds are occupied.
Hospital President Edward Hannon said that as of 4 p.m. Monday, 21 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized there, including 13 who are on ventilators to help them breathe. Last week, the hospital said it had 13 ventilators in its ICU and two more in its neonatal intensive care unit, plus several anesthesia and CPAP machines that could be used in a pinch.
The Central District Health Department oversees Hall, Hamilton and Merrick Counties, where, as of Monday afternoon, 211 people had tested positive for the coronavirus. Thats a whopping threefold increase from a week earlier, when 68 cases were counted. Four people in Hall County have died.
The ages of those with the coronavirus range from 11 to 88, with an average age of 45, the Health Department said.
Only 559 people had been tested in Hall County as of Monday, out of a population of roughly 61,000, according to figures from the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services. But 35.5% of those swabbed are testing positive. Thats far higher than the 7.65% positive rate statewide.
From today:
Grand Island's rate of COVID-19 cases is higher than Michigan's, close to Louisiana's
The Grand Island area by far Nebraskas biggest coronavirus hot spot now has rates of illness comparable to some of the hardest-hit states in the country.
Not only does surrounding Hall County now have more cases than any county in Nebraska, its per capita case rate is almost 12 times that of Douglas County and more than 25 times that of Lancaster County, a World-Herald analysis found.
And as eye-popping as such numbers are, Grand Island, Nebraskas third-largest metro area, is still likely weeks away from its peak of cases and deaths. The sixth death in the local three-county health district was reported Thursday.
Our expectation is that every day we will see large numbers of new cases and every day we will see a number of deaths, Central District Health Department Director Teresa Anderson said Thursday. If we take our lessons from whats been happening in other parts of the country, Im going to say the writing is on the wall.
Ricketts said the state has provided Grand Island help with testing and with tracing the contacts of people who test positive. And he said he has been on the phone with Grand Island employers to make sure they are taking steps to reduce the spread of the virus. We are paying attention to Grand Island, he said during his daily coronavirus briefing.
He and Dr. Gary Anthone, Nebraskas chief medical officer, also noted that the health care system in Grand Island has been up to the task of handling the surge of patients.
All in all, things seem to be fairly well under control in Grand Island, Anthone said of the health care landscape.
Hours later, the local health agency reported 61 new coronavirus cases in Hall County, bringing the total there to a state-leading 339. Thats despite the fact that Hall has one-ninth the population of Douglas County.
The number of cases in Hall County is essentially doubling every four days. Thats more than twice the rate of Nebraska as a whole, which is currently doubling every nine days.
Hall Countys rate, when measured per 10,000 people, has also reached a point that is comparable to the rates seen in states hit hardest by the pandemic.
County Hall Cases 339 Rate per 10,000 people 55.3
There have been a number of cases in Grand Island centered on large employers, including a meatpacking plant. And there also are a large number tied to nursing homes and long-term-care facilities, with 40 workers and residents at nine facilities having already tested positive.
But in the end, Anderson said, the disease has now spread so much that it cant really be linked to any one employer, facility, family or part of town.
What do (cases) have in common? she said. At this time, we can tell you they really have nothing in common. That leads us to believe the virus is truly everywhere.
My Trump-loving MIL/FIL who initially sputtered the "Dem hoax to hurt Trump" like parrots live in this town and they're terrified now. They should be. I'm glad they're terrified because hopefully it will stop them from just sauntering forward with Ricketts/Trump's "grand opening." Who knows, there may even be hope they could wake from the Trump stupor. Probably too much to hope for, but either way, I still don't want them to die like that.
msongs
(67,361 posts)Maru Kitteh
(28,314 posts)and besides, you won't be needing them. Trump says this is the greatest ship in the history of the world. Very powerful. Very strong, the likes of which have never been seen before.
MustLoveBeagles
(11,583 posts)dchill
(38,442 posts)Dan
(3,537 posts)The threat of death will clear your mind.
Cha
(296,848 posts)StaySafe!
bobbieinok
(12,858 posts)She ran a boarding house there. Met my Swiss grandfather in that town.
With the 2 sons from her 1st marriage , the family moved to OK in 06, 1 yr before OK became a state
central scrutinizer
(11,637 posts)Of the town in 1857. Anna Stehr Thomssen. They all came from Germany, speaking Platt Deutsch or low German. I graduated from high school there in 1968.
Maru Kitteh
(28,314 posts)a small world!
Crunchy Frog
(26,578 posts)Is it one of the states that Trump thinks is safe to open back up?
Blue_true
(31,261 posts)Looks like it is already too late. The virus is everywhere there now, and it is down to the dynamics of infected people coming near uninfected people.
Maru Kitteh
(28,314 posts)because there were so few cases altogether and per capita. Which is easy to do WHEN YOU'RE NOT TESTING.
He loved touting Nebraska because the numbers made him look/feel good and THERE IS NO STATEWIDE "safe at home" kind of order. Nebraska doesn''t have to "open" because they never closed, and BOY are they paying for it now.
greenjar_01
(6,477 posts)Sorry for those who aren't complete dupes and had this shit spill on them.
ffr
(22,665 posts)Jones on steroids.
tRump and his followers are linked by a failed conservative belief system that has been shown bare to be a lie. Imagine that. The belief system they've held all of their lives is a lie, a miserable failure. That's too much for a cult follower to absorb. So what do they do? They double down on whatever it is their cult leader tells them and they stay the course, pretending that the lie is still worth fighting for.
It's the cold hard truth.
Blue_true
(31,261 posts)I just don't get the gun part in relation to the present threat (covid19). Because they think masks are for weak people, they are likely spreading the virus like all get out.
I am worried about my state of Florida. Yes, it is getting hotter outside, but that only means that people run their AC more. The AC environment produces the conditions that scientists say are perfect for the virus, lower temperature and low humidity. Once it is in a person, body, temperature is irrelevant since our internal body temperature is 97 degrees.