Ground zero in the battle against the coronavirus in Nebraska is shifting from meatpacking communities in less-populated areas of the state to Douglas and Lancaster counties and the cities of Omaha and Lincoln.
"The non-eastern part of the state is very, very stable at this time," Dr. Gary Anthone, the state's chief medical officer, said Tuesday during Gov. Pete Ricketts' daily coronavirus news briefing.
The current outbreak is "concentrated in the Douglas and Lancaster (county) area," he said.Â
Ricketts noted that testing for the virus has recently increased in both Omaha and Lincoln, and he said the state is prepared to "ramp that up higher" in both South Omaha and North Omaha, where coronavirus infection numbers have been growing.
South Omaha is home to the state's largest Latino community and the site of major meat-processing plants. North Omaha houses the state's largest black population.Â
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As of Tuesday, Latinos made up 43% of Douglas County’s 1,715 confirmed COVID-19 cases, and Asians accounted for more than 15%. Both of those figures are more than three times the population share of each demographic in the county, the Associated Press reported.
Douglas County is nearly 70% white, but 77% of known COVID-19 cases in the county have occurred in people who are not white, officials said.
Adi Pour, the Douglas County Health Department director, said a high percentage of the county's minority populations work in jobs that put them in regular face-to-face contact with the public, increasing their risk.Â
The growing number of coronavirus cases in Lincoln and Lancaster County also has been affected by the virus spreading in meat-processing plants.
Looking at the current picture statewide, Anthone said, "we've definitely flattened the peak" that presumably still lies ahead.
"Especially as far as health care resources go, we've handled it great up to this time," he said.
Ricketts has focused on protecting the state's health care system so that hospital beds, space in intensive care units and ventilators are available to treat coronavirus patients.
The virus has been most lethal for elderly and compromised Nebraskans living in long-term care facilities. Sixty-two of the state's first 100 fatalities were residents of those long-term homes, Anthone noted.
By Tuesday evening, the state's death toll was at 103.
The elderly, the obese, and those with compromised pulmonary capacity are particularly vulnerable, Anthone said. Â
"It's all about lung capacity," he said.
Ricketts said the state will continue to accelerate its ramped-up testing for infection by the virus and it is adding Nebraskans 65 and older to its expanded testing program as priorities this week. Early priority testing centered on first responders.Â
Fielding a number of questions about future crowd and social distancing guidelines and restrictions that may be in effect in the state, Ricketts said he is not prepared to decide yet how to proceed with events such as county fairs, the Cornhusker State Games or community Fourth of July celebrations.
Current restrictions are effective through the month of May and will be reviewed moving into June, he said.
That includes the closure of bars that do not also serve food.
Col. John Bolduc, superintendent of the Nebraska State Patrol, said troopers have been actively engaged in helping battle the virus, working in tandem with the Nebraska National Guard and other agencies.Â
Traffic has been sharply reduced by the virus, he said.
And that has resulted in 177 motorists who were caught speeding down largely deserted highways at more than 100 mph, he said.Â
No officers have tested positive for the virus, Bolduc said, and neither have any "customers" who have been apprehended.
Ricketts said that when he went to his polling place in Omaha to cast his vote in the state's primary election Tuesday, he was the only voter there. Â
"Usually, there's a line," he said.Â
A record number of Nebraskans decided to cast their votes by mail this spring in the midst of the pandemic.
Photos: Lincoln during the pandemic
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Reach the writer at 402-473-7248 or dwalton@journalstar.com.
On Twitter @LJSdon