April photos: Nebraska faces coronavirus

The most recent deaths involve a man in his 30s and a woman in her 70s, according to the Central District Health Department, which oversees Hall, Hamilton and Merrick Counties. 

Omaha business owners share their thoughts after Gov. Pete Ricketts announced a series of new directed health measures that allow certain businesses to reopen.

University of Nebraska President Ted Carter said the NU system would work with public health officials and the NU Medical Center to be sure students, professors and staffers will be able to function safely on campus.

Restaurants in several areas of Nebraska will be open to dine-in customers again, with limitations. And one change, which will apply statewide, will allow religious services, prayer gatherings, weddings and funerals to be held again, as long as households are separated by 6 feet of space and nothing is passed among participants. 

A federal report released Thursday showed that 8,197 Nebraska workers filed first-time unemployment claims last week. That was down from the week before but is more than 10 times the number seen before the coronavirus started wreaking havoc on the nation’s economy.

Steve Wellman, director of the State Department of Agriculture, said about half of the state's agriculture losses during the coronavirus pandemic is the result of stunning declines in ethanol. 

Coronavirus cases are spiking in Hall, Adams, Dawson and Dakota Counties, areas with large meat processing or manufacturing employers like Tyson Foods and JBS USA.

The plant, which employs 4,300 people, will close from Friday to Monday.

Gov. Pete Ricketts said Wednesday that his goal is aimed at "flattening the curve" of coronavirus cases, thereby preventing the state's health care system from being overwhelmed, rather than minimizing the number of people who die or get seriously ill.

The fast-rising figures in Hall and Dawson Counties have quickly and dramatically altered the face of the coronavirus pandemic in Nebraska. The state has seen a 155% spike in cases in the last 10 days — the third-highest growth in the U.S.

The Grand Island area — by far Nebraska’s biggest coronavirus hot spot — now has rates of illness comparable to some of the hardest-hit states in the country.

The Omaha and Lincoln metro areas, as well as many rural parts of the state, all show COVID-19 rates well below national and state averages.

According to the Central District Health Department, which serves Hall, Hamilton and Merrick Counties, the three counties also passed the 1,000 mark in total cases on Wednesday.

Just since April 8, Dawson County cases have grown from one to 197. Lexington, population 10,000, is home to a Tyson Foods beef plant that employs nearly 3,000 people.

It only takes one infection in a small, close-knit community to send COVID-19 cases spiking through the roof.

They called on Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts and food giants like Tyson and Smithfield to work with them to institute more aggressive measures to stop the spread of COVID-19 that's infiltrated meat and food production plants across the country and in Nebraska.

The governor called the outbreaks in counties that are home to meatpacking plans a "community problem," noting that employees only spend part of their days at the plants and often live in close quarters.

Outbreaks at food and meat processing facilities have sickened workers and forced plants to temporarily shut down.