Approximately 40 people in Lancaster County are being monitored under self-quarantine for possible exposure to COVID-19. The 36-year-old Omaha woman who tested positive for the disease attended a Fremont Special Olympics basketball event on February 29. One of the teams was from Lancaster County. At a news conference Monday afternoon, Pat Lopez, Lincoln & Lancaster County Interim Health Director, said the team is under self-quarantine.
“We’re daily checking in with them twice a day on their temperature in the morning and the evening, and seeing how they’re doing. This will continue until March 14, which is the 14-day timeframe from the onset of their exposure,” Lopez said.
Lopez says among the 40 being quarantined are also residents who have recently traveled out of the country.
Lincoln Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird said the upcoming NSAA high school boys basketball championships in Lincoln this weekend will run as scheduled.
“We certainly are concerned about at what point would we would need to take a next level step of preparedness like cancelling large public gatherings. Because we don’t have any confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Lincoln or Lancaster County, we aren’t at this point doing that,” Gaylor Baird said.
She and other officials encouraged those who feel sick to not attend the tournament to prevent any spread of disease. Gaylor Baird said there are still no confirmed COVID-19 cases in Lincoln or Lancaster County.