Lancaster County's confirmed number of COVID-19 cases jumped Monday by the most in a single day, bringing the total of lab confirmed cases in Lincoln to 31.Â
And with the increase in cases, Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird and the Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department are now recommending cloth face masks be worn when people are out in public, including grocery store and pharmacy visits, and anywhere they will encounter other people.Â
Gaylor Baird also emphasized that masks are one supplemental tool in the fight, and physical distancing and hand-washing are more important than ever.Â
Watch Lincoln Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird speak Monday about the coronavirus pandemic.
The Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department reported 13 new cases Monday, with the patients ranging in age from 29-71. Interim Health Director Pat Lopez said two of the people are in their 20s, three are in their 30s, one is in their 40s, four are in their 50s, two are in their 60s and one is in their 70s.
People are also reading…
Lopez said seven of the new cases are confirmed to be caused by community spread, while four were travel-related. The department is still investigating the cause of the other two cases. Two of the newly diagnosed patients are hospitalized, she said.
The local health department is monitoring 124 people.Â
Gaylor Baird said during her afternoon briefing that while the rising numbers of cases can produce anxiety, it is expected that more cases will be recorded with increased testing. It is important to remember that most people who contract the virus will recover, she said. Â
But it is more important than ever with this community spread that people stay at home as much as possible, she added.Â
The city is taking the question seriously of whether it is doing enough to protect residents, including evaluating the directed health measures day by day and even minute by minute.
"We want to make sure that we are doing everything we can, that we have no regrets looking back," Gaylor Baird said.Â
Officials are pleased with how much compliance they are seeing anecdotally throughout the community, and that the number of compliance complaints are low.Â
As the number of cases rises, she reassured people that physical distancing is working and the directed health measures that were put in place early continue to be the key to keeping numbers lower than they would otherwise be.Â
"With that said, this is a highly contagious virus. We're seeing some outbreaks in communities around us. So we're going to continue to evaluate whether there are additional steps we need to take in the near future," she said.
Even in states with stay-at-home orders, there are a lot of exceptions and a lot of people who must get in their cars and go to work, she said.Â
She and Lopez, who would be the one to order new directives in the county, are looking at modeling, developing enhanced understanding of capacity and risk, and working with providers to ensure they are doing everything possible to protect medical workers and residents.Â
Bryan Health on Monday morning said it now has registered 24 positive cases, up from only nine Friday, although at least one of those positive cases involved a resident from another county.
The hospital system based in Lincoln got more than 100 results back over the weekend. It alone has now done 857 tests, with 674 negative results and 159 still pending.
The local health department said there have now been been 1,030 negative test results in Lancaster County, with 20 still pending. The health department's numbers do not include Bryan's pending tests or any others that are pending with commercial labs.
So far, it appears Lincoln has few patients who are seriously ill. Bryan said it has three patients in its hospitals with a confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis, one of whom is on a ventilator. It has 10 patients in the hospital still awaiting a COVID-19 test result. A spokeswoman for CHI Health St. Elizabeth said it was caring for 10 people with positive COVID-19 diagnoses.
Statewide, there were more than 400 cases, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. Lancaster County now has the third-most cases, behind Hall County and Douglas County.
Gaylor Baird on Monday afternoon demonstrated how to use cloth face masks, also recommended by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but which can take time to get used to, she said, both putting them on and wearing them. And they should not be put on children under 2 or anyone who can't remove them without assistance.Â
She appealed to manufacturers to pivot their production, if possible, to support the production of essentials such as gowns, masks and face coverings, and volunteers who sew to assist in the effort.Â
"If you are a business or individual capable of providing such assistance, please contact my office at 402-441-7511 so we can coordinate the purchase and delivery of critical supplies to those on the front lines of this fight," she said. Â