OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — On Thursday, the Douglas County Health Department (DCHD) said COVID-19 cases were on the rise in March across the board but even more so in children.
The department said cases in March increased by 22% with 3,236 when compared to February’s total of 2,721 cases.
The increase included “42% increase among people under 19 years of age and a 158% increase among children 4 years old and younger, with much of that linked to an outbreak of the U.K. variant.”
The department said cases among "school-aged children and youth aged 5-17" saw a 36% increase.
Cases among young adults ages 20-34 also went up in March with a 31% increase.
In light of these figures, the DCHD is urging everyone over the age of 16 to visit www.douglascountyhealth.com to register for a COVID-19 vaccination.
The DCHD said, on Thursday, that 198 more positive COVID-19 cases have been confirmed in the county for a total of 68,195 to date.
The department did not receive any additional death certificates related to the virus so the total remains at 685.
Other data from the department:
- DCHD reports 61,310 residents have recovered from COVID-19.
- Over the past 14 days K-12 schools have reported 100 cases of COVID-19 including 82 students 18 staff.
- There are 128 individuals in quarantine with 225 who are self-monitoring.
- According to the most recent local hospital report received yesterday (Wednesday) afternoon, medical and surgical beds were at 78% occupancy with 327 beds available and adult ICU beds are occupied at a 77% rate with 79 beds available.
- There were 117 individuals hospitalized who have been diagnosed with COVID-19, with 42 of them receiving adult ICU level care.
- There are also three more persons of interest (generally waiting for test results).
- Twelve individuals who were confirmed or suspected of having COVID-19 were on ventilators
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