STILL RISING

COVID-19 Cases Climbing in No-Lockdown Nebraska

Douglas County saw its steepest increase in positive tests yet.

The two biggest counties in Nebraska—where Gov. Pete Ricketts refused to issue a stay-at-home order and started reopening—reported steep increases in coronavirus cases on Saturday. In Lancaster County, home to the capital of Lincoln, 76 new positive tests, including the first one in a jail, were registered. “It is clear that Lincoln has not yet reached its peak,” Pat Lopez, health department interim director, told the Lincoln Star-Journal. And Douglas County, which encompasses Omaha, saw its biggest one-day increase yet: 147 cases, and the death of a man in his 60s with no known medical problems. Douglas now has more cases than Nebraska’s two earlier hotspots, Hall and Dakota counties, where meat-packing plants fueled outbreaks.