COVID-19 Risk Dial Moves to Low-Yellow

Published on March 08, 2022

The Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department (LLCHD) today announced that the COVID-19 Risk Dial will move from mid-yellow to low-yellow. The yellow position on the dial means that the risk of the virus spreading in the community is moderate. On the color-coded dial, red represents the highest risk of COVID-19 spread, and green represents the lowest risk. The dial is updated weekly.

The position of the Risk Dial is based on multiple local indicators and information from the previous three weeks:

• The weekly number of new COVID-19 cases has declined at least 40% each week since the end of January. Case numbers dropped from 264 the week ending February 26 to 157 the week ending March 5.  
• The seven-day rolling average of COVID-19 patients hospitalized locally has dropped steadily since early February and is now below 50. The number of COVID-19 patients hospitalized locally today is 41, with 29 from Lancaster County. 
• The positivity rate dropped to 4.6% last week. It’s the first time the rate has been below 5% since July 2021.
• One Lancaster County person has died from COVID-19 so far in March. In February, 32 residents died from COVID-19. 

All Lancaster County residents ages 5 and older are eligible to receive COVID-19 vaccine. More than 66% of all Lancaster County residents are fully vaccinated, and about 60% of residents ages 12 and up have now received a booster or third dose.

The latest public health guidance and vaccine information is available at covid19.lincoln.ne.gov or by calling the Health Department hotline at 402-441-8006.