Lucas Peterson lives in Lincoln. He’s a supervisor for the food and beverage department at Pinnacle Bank Arena. It’s a job that puts him in contact with people across the state. Lately, he’s been working concerts there and doing so at a greater risk than most people.

PETERSON 1: “In the beginning of the pandemic, I was calling my doctor pretty much every day at that point.” (0:06)

Peterson did that because he’s immunocompromised with an undetectable HIV status. He checks COVID trends regularly – through the county health department website and what’s in the Lincoln Journal Star.

As the Delta Variant has caused a new spike, he can’t check trends across the state anymore. That’s because the state removed its COVID dashboard at the end of June. In Lancaster county, where Peterson lives, there are local numbers released each week, but they’re an exception.

Other local health departments across Nebraska can only share county data for those with more than 20,000 people. That’s only 17 of the state’s 93 counties. But there’s some questions surrounding the state’s legal justification for withholding that information.

For Peterson, these decisions have consequences working at the Pinnacle Bank Arena. The venue hosts concerts, high school sports and graduations. Peterson says many guests come from across the state to these events. That worries him.