Hospital Transfer Center Restarting
By Fred Knapp , Reporter/Producer Nebraska Public Media
Sept. 1, 2021, midnight ·
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With some Nebraska hospitals filling up amid a surge of COVID patients, the state is reopening a center to help find hospitals that still have room. And Gov. Pete Ricketts is doubling down on his opposition to schools requiring students to wear masks.
In a news conference Wednesday, Ricketts announced the state would reestablish a “transfer center” to help find beds for COVID patients. Angie Ling of the Department of Health and Human Services said many of the state’s 63 so-called “critical access” hospitals, mostly in smaller, more rural communities, lack intensive care and other services to take care of the sickest patients, and the hospitals that do have that capacity are between 85 and 100 percent full. So the state is reestablishing a transfer center it had earlier in the pandemic that smaller hospitals can call to find a bed for their sicker patients. Ling also commented on the need for more hospital staff, and how people should react.
“Our medical staff are hurting something fierce right now. We continue to ask them to work longer and harder. We need them to have downtime to recover and care for themselves so when they are working, they are able to care for your loved one at one hundred percent. Things that you can do for your medical staff is to be kind. I’m sure most people know or have a medical person in their family. Tell them that they’re doing a great job. Help them with their yardwork when they’re working endless amounts of night shifts. Buy them a coffee or just listen to them when they need someone to talk to,” Ling said.
Also Wednesday, Ricketts doubled down on his opposition to school districts requiring students to wear masks – a step that has been taken by some larger districts, including Lincoln, Omaha, and Grand Island.
“I am a hundred percent against mask mandates at any level,” Ricketts said.
Ricketts argued students are at no more at risk from COVID than they are from the flu, and are not required to mask to protect against that. Asked about the risk of them transmitting COVID to adults, even if the students themselves don’t get seriously ill, Ricketts said adults can protect themselves.
“They can go out for example and get the vaccine. They can take other steps to protect themselves. That’s why I think this should be a choice of parents to decide whether or not they want their kids masked,” he said.
The governor also distributed two news articles he said support his position. You can find the article from New York Magazine here, and one from National Public Radio here.