BEATRICE – The Chancellor of the University of Nebraska Medical Center says there’s very good evidence that containment and mediation are both effective in the fight against the coronavirus.


Dr. Jeffrey Gold held a virtual conference with Beatrice-area medical professionals, business owners, school officials and government leaders on Thursday.


"We've had a handful of community case spread here, but thus far, of the seventy some-odd cases, the overwhelming majority have been traceable. By the way, I would point out that including all of the individuals that we repatriated from Wuhan...every single individual from the Diamond Princess...and every other individual that we have cared for at Nebraska Medicine in our viral containment system...not a single staff member as a result of those individuals became ill...and therefore never transmitted the virus".


Gold says the hope is that over the next months, Nebraska can continue strong mitigation steps against the coronavirus. Gold said according to Region Seven officials with FEMA, Nebraska has had fewer overall cases than the states or Iowa, Missouri and Kansas.
"And, I credit that to our strong containment and mediation efforts. But, we're just going to have to hold on really tight, in order to maintain that status".


The conference with the chancellor was arranged through UNMC and Nebraska Board of Regents member, Rob Schafer, of Beatrice.


Dr. Gold said Americans have a moral and ethical responsibility to practice social distancing as a way to keep the virus from spreading to more people.
"This is not an aerosol-spread infection. It is a droplet-spread infection. So a droplet-spread infection means that when you cough or you sneeze, there are micro particles that contain the virus, that are projected out into the air. And, those micro particles will carry for up to approximately six feet. Now, it could be four, or it could be seven...but six is the average number. And so assuming people cover their mouth and their nose when they cough and sneeze and when they're sick....this is not a contact infection like ebola virus...and it is not an aerosol infection...it is a droplet-infection. If somebody coughs or sneezes on a table, a doorknob, or doesn't use tissue or cover themselves or where a mask when they're sick, they are spreading these droplets...and again, six feet is the magic number".


Gold sees the less-than-ten-people in a group as a standard, though he acknowledges that can be interpreted differently, depending on the setting.
"Ten people in my office, is very different than ten people in Memorial Stadium. So, it's really about maintaining the distancing".


Gold said younger people are the group that tends to be getting less sick and there are fewer deaths in that group from the COVID-19. But he said they are a source that spreads the virus to parents and grandparents.
"All of us know from our experience with little kids, and I've got three-and-a-half-year-old twin grandchildren, there's not a single day that they come home from preschool in the winter, that they're not sniffling and sneezing with something. To them, this looks a lot like...you can't tell the difference between COVID, the flu and the garden variety sniffles and sneezes. However, they are unquestionably the vectors that spread this disease. And, that's why all of the school closings have been so critical".


The choice, Gold says, is in the hands of citizens….and how seriously they take the need for social distancing.


Nebraska HHS is reporting an updated total of 81 cases in Nebraska, with the number of tests showing negative, approaching sixteen hundred.