Dorchester Times: Three COVID-19 Cases Now Confirmed In Saline County

Friday, April 17, 2020

Three COVID-19 Cases Now Confirmed In Saline County

Public Health Solutions -- the local health office that serves Saline County and four neighboring counties -- has reported two additional lab-confirmed COVID-19 cases in Saline County. Both patients are men, one in his 40s and one in his 50s.

These cases are unrelated to each other and both patients are currently self-isolating in their homes and being monitored by PHS.

Investigations are in process to identify individuals who may have been in close contact with the patients.

This brings the total confirmed COVID-19 cases within the PHS district to 29. As of today, there have been 26 confirmed cases reported in Gage County, three in Saline County, and no cases reported in Fillmore, Jefferson or Thayer counties.

PHS reminds everyone to continue social distancing and respecting the 10-person rule for gatherings. These interventions will help slow the spread of this virus in our community.

For more information, call Public Health Solutions at (402) 826-3880.

4 comments:

AnonymousApril 17, 2020 at 11:35 PM
Still liking that foot dragging Trump. It's nothing to worry a about, a few cases and it will be gone in a couple of weeks. Ha, what a fool he is. He is not the swamp. He is a cesspool.
ReplyDelete
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AnonymousApril 18, 2020 at 12:18 PM
Easy big Fella, tell us how you really feel!
ReplyDelete
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AnonymousApril 19, 2020 at 12:01 PM
You sound like maybe you should run the country during a pandemic. You obviously have all of the answers for everything.
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousApril 24, 2020 at 7:37 PM
All you Trump supporters, does his kool-ade taste a little like bleach? Also, do not hurt yourself getting that light inside your body.
ReplyDelete
Replies

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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."