OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — Douglas County Health Director Dr. Adi Pour said we'll get a better picture of coronavirus if we compare weeks rather than days because it’s easier to see the ups and downs.
First days of school are in the books for many students in the greater Omaha area.
Social distancing, masks and extra cleaning are now commonplace for students who are physically back in class.
So how'd we do?
Dr. Pour said last week we had 119 cases of coronavirus in people under 20-years-old.
Last week ages 0 to 4-years old had seven cases.
5 to 9-years-old had nine cases.
10 to 14-years-old had 24 cases.
15 to 19-years old had 79 cases.
“We have now since school started 17 students that have come down with COVID-19, 18 staff, 152 cases on quarantine,” Dr. Pour said.
She compared the cases popping up in schools to what we saw when sports teams began practicing a couple of weeks ago.
“In the beginning,” Dr. Pour said, “the first athletic teams had 20 cases in them. The second week it was less, and the third week it was less. Because coaches were not really, really enforcing that social distancing and mask wearing once you get off the court.”
She hopes as students and staff get used to masks and the new rules, we'll see a decrease in schools.
“I think schools are struggling with this because some of them are in older buildings where they cannot have a lot of social distancing or so on,” Dr. Pour said.
She said the Douglas County Health Department put together a video to help explain the spread and contact tracing to educators.
The Global Center for Health Securities is visiting local schools to make recommendations.
“I think it is a little trial by error,” Dr. Pour said. “But every school is slightly different. I have to share that with you. And every district is different, the population they are serving is different too. But everybody is trying their hardest at this time.”