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Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert, other officials provide coronavirus update

Urge people to not overcrowd parks
Posted at 3:39 PM, Apr 03, 2020
and last updated 2020-04-03 19:58:24-04

OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — Friday afternoon, Mayor Jean Stothert and Douglas County Health Director Adi Pour held a coronavirus briefing with a message we’ve heard over and over today: stay at home and practice social distancing.

At the briefing, Stothert and other officials provided an update on how the city and county are handling coronavirus cases.

The county now has almost 130 positive cases. Ten new cases were announced day. Staying at home and not going to crowded parks as the weather gets nicer could be the real difference.

The mayor said parks were completely overcrowded last weekend. She saw on social media that people were still organizing parties at parks and said that is not allowed. She has stepped up enforcement at parks in an effort to get people to follow social distancing and keep numbers. She says they will remain open for now but if she sees overcrowding happening again, the city’s 600 parks could start seeing some restrictions.

Stothert said, "With that many parks, we can't put a chain around them and lock them down. We can block off the entrances but we are just asking for people to help us so we can keep these spaces open."

At the Douglas County Health Center, there are now 18 positive coronavirus cases at the facility which include 13 residents and five staff members. Officials say they are deep cleaning, implementing extra protective wear and following CDC guidelines to make sure the spread is contained within the facility.

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