Dorchester Times: COVID-19 UPDATE: Vaccine Sign-Up Is Ready For County Residents 75+

Sunday, January 10, 2021

COVID-19 UPDATE: Vaccine Sign-Up Is Ready For County Residents 75+

UPDATE - Jan. 10: According to data collected by Johns Hopkins University, Saline County's cases of COVID-19 stood at 1,788 as of Jan. 10. That's up from 852 just three months ago. The number of COVID-related deaths in the county stands at three.

Here is a quick glance at Nebraska's new cases, hospitalizations, and deaths over the past 90 days.

Here are more updates on the virus:

State health officials say they plan to launch their new COVID-19 vaccine registration website in about two weeks and a telephone hotline in roughly a week. (You can track how many vaccinations have been performed statewide here.)

Public Health Solutions -- the local public health office for our area -- has posted a registration link on its website for individuals 75 and older. The registration will be available until the statewide registration site is up and running. (Do NOT register unless you're at least 75 years old. People who are younger than 75 will be able to register soon via the statewide system mentioned above. )
Here is the risk dial for Saline County and surrounding counties. It has been lowered to the lower levels of "elevated."

Some strange things recently occurred with Nebraska's reporting of COVID-19-related deaths. Nebraska’s deaths from COVID-19 jumped from 11 to 108 on Friday. The Douglas County Health Department now says it mistakenly reported a list of deaths as COVID-related. (Keep in mind hospitals are receiving a generous federal payment for every COVID-19 patient treated.)

As we move into the middle of January, many health care experts are predicting a major wave of new COVID-19 cases and deaths due to the newly mutated strain of the virus plaguing the UK. The new strain is reportedly up to 50% to 70% more contagious. Experts recommend:

Use physical distancing (at least 6 feet), masks, and don't get near those who don't live in the same house as yours. (There's a reason entire homes used to quarantine as recently as the 1960s.)
Even in cold weather, avoid indoor gatherings of groups of more than five people.
Wipe down door knobs, light switches, and all high-touch surfaces frequently with disinfectant. The virus has been shown to survive for up to nine days on certain surfaces.
Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands. Use soap, water, and hand sanitizer.

Stay updated on the latest news from Public Health Solutions.

9 comments:

AnonymousApril 28, 2020 at 11:30 AM
Not in my backyard was my favorite Metaphor. Take that off the list.
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousApril 30, 2020 at 11:13 AM
Hard to believe that the only place I can get timely update is the Dorchester newspaper. Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousMay 5, 2020 at 9:19 PM
If Ricketts and Trump think that this pandemic is over, let's have them work a couple of shifts at Smithfields. They don't care about any of the working people or the healthcare workers, only their pathetic political careers. They are spoiled by their own wealth and could care less about the real people that make up this state and country. Heal America with Biden.
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousJune 3, 2020 at 9:44 PM
Yea, lets open the economy with the proper precautions. But tell me how many people do you see around town wearing masks and maintaining the correct social distancing? How many infected people have walked to the downtown area instead of staying home. Just because some people think that they are invincible doesn't mean that they have the right to spread the virus to those with other health issues. Show me the numbers of how many US residents have died from the flu and pneumonia compared to covid 19 instead of just making a statement. You make it sound as if it is okay for people to die from covid since most of the ones are in nursing homes and are just there waiting to die. Lets just turn the people loose and start killing off some more. No one is going to practice safe measures. I just hope it is not my friends and family who pay the price for somebody's stupidity. Who knows, it may even be someone that you are close to but that's ok because it is not the flu.
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousNovember 18, 2020 at 10:06 AM
Record number of cases being reported. 1000's of people dying everyday. Where is the leadership from our President? To busy golfing and sending out tweets. What a LOSER,both in the election and as a person. So much for his MAGA theme, he and his supporters are as worthless as a bunch of maggots.
ReplyDelete
Replies

Add comment

Village Dweller checks all reader comments to determine if they are appropriate for print.

Dorchester: A Good Little Family Town

Dorchester, Nebraska (est. population 630) is located in northern Saline county. Close in proximity to Interstate 80, Dorchester is only 25 minutes from the state capital of Lincoln (est. population 250,000) and about 55 minutes from Omaha (metro population 725,000).

Dorchester's median resident age is 37 years. In 2005, Dorchester had a median family income of approximately $35,600. The median house value was about $63,000. About 95 percent of Dorchester residents commute to work via Interstate and highways.

The village has a quality public school, which received a $4.1 million expansion and modernization in 2008; it offers a small classrooms and individualized attention. Total enrollment of grades K-12 is around 230-250 students.

Ancestries of the Dorchester area are primarily German (42.4%), Czech (24.9%), Irish (12.5%), English (5.4%), and Dutch (4.9%).

Dorchester Historical Facts

* On July 4, 1871, the railroad reached Dorchester.
* Incorporated in 1881, Dorchester's population grew from 200 to 500 by 1882.
* In 1882, Dorchester had 90 buildings, 35 of which were businesses or public facilities. Brick buildings lined both sides of Washington Avenue for two blocks.
* Dorchester's longest-running newspaper was The Dorchester Star, which was published until the late 1940s.
* By 1889, Dorchester's population is said to have reached 800, while the town housed an opera house, a two-story brick schoolhouse with a bell tower, and four churches.
* By the 1910s, Dorchester had electricity, a water tower and a fire department.
* Dorchester's main arteries, Highways 6 and 33, were graveled in the 1940s.
* Dorchester's first irrigation well was drilled on Chris Weber's farm and rural electrification was finished following WWII.

A Village with History

Dorchester is one of the "alphabet towns" on the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad line built west from Lincoln. The town site was selected for its pleasant location in the northern part of Saline County, about eight miles west of Crete. This situation is an attractive one, being on the level prairie land, midway between the West Blue River and Turkey Creek. The first named stream is three miles north, and the latter about the same distance south from the town. Dorchester was platted in 1870 and incorporated in 1881. The name "Dorchester" came from either for a suburb of Boston by that name or a town in England. No one is sure. Two of the very first settlers were James Seely and Edward McIntyre, who both made Dorchester their permanent home.

Dorchester: In The Beginning

Here is a look at Dorchester around 1890, less than a decade after its official incorporation, as documented by Andreas' History of the State of Nebraska:
* POPULATION: "About 300, and is made up of a substantial and progressive class of citizens, who are moral and industrious. ... The town grew but very little until the year 1879, for the reason that Pleasant Hill, on Turkey Creek, a short distance south, was the county seat and naturally drew a trade for quite a large scope of country."
* BUSINESS: "The business and professional interests of the town are represented by three general merchandise stores, two drug, one grocery, one furniture, two hardware, and two millinery stores, one bank, two restaurants, two hotels, three livery stables, a post office, one newspaper office, two elevators, two lumber yards, two coal yards, two blacksmith shops, two lawyers and four physicians."
* SCHOOL: "The schoolhouse is a good one. The schoolhouse was built in 1872, since which time the public schools have been continually kept up. The present schoolhouse is 24' x 40' in size, two stories high. The school is graded and consists of three departments. The house is found too small, and arrangements will soon be made to increase its size."
* CHURCHES: "There are three substantial churches."
* HOMES: "The residence portion of the village is made up of neat houses of different styles of architecture, but none of them very large."
* NEWSPAPER: "The Dorchester Star, which was established August 21, 1881, by H. C. Bittenbender, who edited it until January 19, 1882, when he sold it to Ryerson & Bullock, the present proprietors. The Star is a bright weekly paper, five-column quarto, in size, and is Republican in politics."