OMAHA, Neb. – (KGFW) Speaking in their final zoom update of 2020, CHI Health Infectious Diseases Expert Dr. David Quimby touched on how Nebraska might have seen a decrease in COVID-19 cases since Thanksgiving.
“I think that people around Thanksgiving did what they were supposed to do. They tried to not have as many gatherings and tried to control their behaviors better so there was less exposure. Part of what led to this was increased awareness of how much disease activity was going on at the time.”
“Really there’s nothing like a good scare to get people to behave. Other parts of the country did have an uptick after Thanksgiving. So I’m very grateful for the people of Nebraska and our general area did seemingly a better job.”
While he has been pleased to see cases go down, Dr. Quimby is cautious following Christmas and New Year’s Eve.
“I am a little bit concerned about New Year’s. If you think about what people do for holidays that aren’t strong introverts like myself. There tends to be more public parties and things like that with New Year’s than family gatherings at Thanksgiving.”
“So there is risk if there’s behaviors with that. Hopefully the people in Nebraska will continue doing a good job to do what they can to keep this under control.”
The situation going ahead isn’t clear and Dr. Quimby does admit that his opinion does not envelop every aspect of life. He isn’t sure if there will be any consequences with Directed Health Measures being rolled back further in the state.
“The consequences are probably just based on how many people participate. Just because a bar is open or there’s a party, no one is mandated to attend said activities. I understand that people who run businesses have taken a large economic hit.”
“Honestly, as a health person I don’t know the best thing to do for society as a whole. I can say that well people are better off than sick people. Trying to stay away from large gatherings at least for the next several months would be good.”
Dr. Quimby also noted that cases have been going down since late November but the state’s infection rate and hospital numbers are still higher than back in August and September.