4 more test positive for COVID-19 at Nebraska youth center

A third staff member and three residents at Nebraska’s Youth Rehabilitation and Treatment Center in Kearney have tested positive for the new coronavirus, state health officials reported.

Those were the results released late Wednesday of facility-wide testing earlier this week after two staff members initially tested positive for COVID-19. The local health department and the Nebraska National Guard set up the on-site testing for the center’s more than 160 residents and staff.

The infected staffer is self-isolating and monitoring symptoms at home, health officials said. The three boys are asymptomatic and are self-isolating in individual rooms at the center, officials said.

The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services said in a news release that “necessary areas” in the facility have been sanitized and that all staff and youth continue to be monitored for symptoms, including having their temperature checked daily.Parents of the boys who tested positive have been contacted and will be regularly updated on their progress, officials said.

For most people, COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. Older adults and people with existing health problems are among those particularly susceptible to more severe illnesses.

(Image Credit: AP)