Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts announced on Monday that the state’s daily virus dashboard would be brought back as hospitalizations related to COVID-19 are on the rise this summer.
Nebraska initially discontinued the dashboard on June 30, the same day Ricketts ended Nebraska’s state of emergency. The decision to close the site was criticized by many health experts who used it to track COVID-19, according to the Associated Press.
ALASKA HOSPITAL IMPLEMENTS CRISIS STANDARDS OF CARE DUE TO STRAINED RESOURCES
The virus dashboard is expected to return Monday, but Ricketts said the state would again dispense with the site if COVID-19 hospitalizations fall below 10% of all hospitalizations. As of Monday, COVID-19 patients made up roughly 15% of hospitalizations, Rickets said, and 28% of hospital beds and 23% of adult ICU beds in the state were available.
“This is getting back to HIPAA rules and our laws about how we implement that. I’m waiving that statute so we can start displaying that data again,” Ricketts said, according to KOLN.
Nebraska had 415 active cases of people hospitalized with the virus as of Wednesday. More than 54% of Nebraska residents are fully vaccinated, according to the state’s COVID-19 weekly data update.
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Ricketts’s office did not immediately respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment.
