More Nebraska prison staffers test positive for coronavirus

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska’s prison system continues to see more staff members infected with the coronavirus and confirmed cases statewide surpassed 50,000.

Four employees at the Nebraska State Penitentiary in Lincoln and another at the Nebraska Correctional Center for Women in York have tested positive for COVID-19, the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services said in news releases Wednesday and Thursday. All are self-isolating at home, the department said.

With the new cases, a total of 167 state prisons workers have now tested positive for the virus. A page on the agency’s website dedicated to tracking the virus within the department was last updated Oct. 2 and showed that 231 inmates had tested positive for the coronavirus, while one inmate at the Nebraska State Penitentiary has died from the virus.

On Friday, the state’s online virus tracking site showed 293 Nebraskans are hospitalized with COVID-19, which broke the previous day’s record of 288 and is well above the spring peak of 232 set on May 27. On Thursday, 663 new cases of the virus were confirmed in the state, bringing the total to 50,059 confirmed cases and 514 deaths since the pandemic began.

The state has the eighth-highest rate of new cases, according to an Associated Press analysis of data from Johns Hopkins University. The seven-day rolling average of daily new cases in Nebraska has risen to more than 547 per day by Thursday, compared with over more than 408 new cases per day for the seven-day period prior.