OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — On Tuesday, the Douglas County Health Department confirmed in its daily emailed COVID report that 1,266 new positive COVID-19 tests have been received since midnight the previous day.
According to Phil Rooney, a resource specialist with the Douglas County Health Department, the 452 patients in the hospital with COVID-19 is the highest number of hospitalized COVID patients at one time since the pandemic started.
The Health Department received seven new COVID-19-related death certificates during the past day. A vaccinated woman in her 70s has died, along with six men ranging in age from 65 to just less than 90. Only two of the men were vaccinated. The number of COVID-19-related deaths in Douglas County during the pandemic now is 983.
The new positive tests have fluctuated dramatically in the last few days. A brief dip saw case counts at less than 1000 on Saturday, and even in the 500 range on Sunday and Monday.
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 yesterday (Monday) afternoon:
- Medical and surgical beds are at 84% occupancy with 233 staffed beds available.
- Adult ICU beds are occupied at an 83% rate with 50 staffed beds available.
- There are 452 individuals hospitalized who have been diagnosed with COVID-19,
- 86 are receiving adult ICU-level care.
- Twenty pediatric patients are confirmed among those hospitalized.
- Pediatric ICU beds are at 78% capacity with 29 beds available.
- There are 16 additional COVID-19 persons of interest (generally waiting for test results),
- This includes 12 potential adult cases and four potential pediatric cases.
- Forty-six individuals who were confirmed or suspected of having COVID-19 were on ventilators.
The total number of positive cases reported since March of 2020 is 133,644.
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