OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — On Thursday, the Douglas County Health Department confirmed in its daily emailed report that 1,342 new positive COVID-19 tests have been received since midnight the previous day.
The Health Department confirmed five new COVID-19-related death certificates have been received in the same period. Two men between the ages of 55 and 75 and three women between 65 and 90 died. The two men had been vaccinated, but the three women were unvaccinated. The number of COVID-19-related deaths in Douglas County during the pandemic is now 972.
Daily COVID case counts have been down the past couple of days, but cold weather forced the closure of the free COVID testing sites run by Nomi Health in eastern Nebraska. When asked whether the dip in case counts was due to the omicron variant potentially reaching a post-peak descent, DCHD Resource Specialist Phil Rooney it could be either that or the closure of testing sites.
The Omaha Metropolitan Health Care Coalition — which encompasses Douglas, Sarpy, Saunders, Dodge and Washington counties in Nebraska, plus hospitals in Council Bluffs and Missouri Valley, Iowa — releases updated COVID-19 case counts and a hospital occupancy report to the Douglas County Health Department on a near-daily basis. The overall numbers include both COVID-19 patients and hospitalized patients for all other illnesses and injuries unless otherwise noted.
According to the most recent local hospital report received late Wednesday afternoon:
- Medical and surgical beds are at 89% occupancy with 154 staffed beds available.
- Adult ICU beds are occupied at a 90% rate with 29 staffed beds available.
- There are 419 individuals hospitalized who have been diagnosed with COVID-19, with
- 111 are receiving adult ICU-level care.
- Twenty-one pediatric patients are confirmed among those hospitalized.
- Pediatric ICU beds are at 77% capacity with 30 beds available.
- There are nine additional COVID-19 persons of interest (generally waiting for test results) to report,
- Eight potential adult cases and one potential pediatric case.
- Forty-eight individuals who are confirmed or suspected of having COVID-19 are on ventilators.
The total number of positive cases reported since March of 2020 is 128,135.
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