‘It’s encouraging’: Nebraska health care workers start to see a return to norm

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – Nebraska health care workers have begun to see a return to normal as COVID-19 cases continue to decline in the state.

This comes as a welcome change for the workers, who have dealt with COVID-19 for the last two years.

“We haven’t been seeing those high concerns for COVID and thankfully haven’t been having to call any positive results,” said Caley Bogatz, a CHI Health nurse.  “Even the tests I’ve done have been more for travel purposes or things like that, so all around, it’s encouraging.”

Health care workers did see an uptick of flu later on in the season, but those numbers have already gone back down to normal.

Because of COVID-19, flu cases have been almost non-existent the last two years.

When COVID-19 cases began to go down, health care workers started seeing flu numbers return to normal.

“I think we had a later peak than we normally see, but compared to last year, there was virtually no flu,” said Danie Frazee, a CHI Health physician assistant. “It’s closer to the norm.”

Health care workers have also seen a recent uptick in seasonal allergies.  They say this could be due to rapidly changing weather.

“We’ve kind of been up and down with weather, and we have a 30-degree day, then a 70-degree day, and our sinuses and allergies don’t really know how to react,” Bogatz said.

Health workers say the best way to protect against serious allergies is to drink lots of water, eat healthy and stock up on medicine.