Nebraska Update

COVID vaccine boosters should be available this week in Nebraska for people 65 years old and older and other higher risk residents. Now there’s some advice on whether you actually need the booster and when everyone else will be able to get them.

Blood-red sunsets in the Midwest are striking but ominous illustrations of new data: Parts of the Midwest are being exposed to more wildfire smoke from the West Coast and Canada compared to more than a decade ago. Experts say the impact of the smoke on health in the region is a concern.

Meteorological patterns — weather, air currents, fronts — sweep wildfire smoke hundreds of miles across the country. Nowhere in the Midwest is this increased exposure to wildfire smoke more pronounced than in western Nebraska.

Take the case of Scottsbluff, a city of about 15,000 in Nebraska’s panhandle. From 2016 to 2020, Scottsbluff experienced a 45% increase in days on which wildfire smoke was in the atmosphere. That’s compared to an earlier period that was analyzed, from 2009 to 2013.

A year ago in Scottsbluff the concentration of particulate matter — tiny pieces of debris suspended in the air — exceeded the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) standards. That was a result of smoke sweeping into western Nebraska from wildfires in Canada.

Western and central Kansas also saw meaningful increases in smoke days, according to a data analysis conducted by NPR California Newsroom and the Stanford University Environmental Change and Human Outcomes Lab.

“Although we see variability from year to year, the trend appears to be increasing impacts of smoke across Kansas over the last several years,” said Matt Lara, a spokesman with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment in an email.

Lara said the effect from smoke may be mostly in the upper atmosphere, causing hazy skies and dramatic sunset. He added that sometimes, such as late July and early August this year, federal air standards for daily particulate matter are exceeded.

“Some of these impacts may not be surface based but upper atmosphere and cause hazy skies and dramatic sunsets but others, such as late July and early August this year did cause air monitoring sites to exceed the federal air quality standards for daily particulate matter.”

‘Expect this to get worse’

Health and meteorology experts say the growing presence of wildfire smoke in parts of Kansas and Nebraska could pose health risks to those who breathe it in. That concern is compounded, given the likelihood that vast and intense fires from California and surrounding areas will persist.

“All the science -- and there’s a lot of science on this -- suggests if we don’t change our game on this, people should expect this to get worse,” said Burke, who helped NPR’s California Newsroom assemble its smoke data. “It’s going to be worse in the West, but it’s certainly going to get worse in the Midwest as well as more people are exposed to smoke from fires in the West.”

The analysis relied on satellite images captured every few hours by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) that showed plumes of smoke billowing into the atmosphere from western wildfires. Those images were then plotted over nearly every zip code across the continental United States to show the areas where the wildfire smoke reaches.

Smoky skies, clear effects

In California and more broadly along the West Coast, the growing frequency and intensity of wildfire pose clear air quality and health risks.

The NPR California Newsroom analysis examined data from state health facilities and found there were 30,000 more hospitalizations from cardiac and respiratory conditions in 2018, which was a record year for fires at the time.

Shawn Jacobs, the warning coordination meteorologist at the North Platte National Weather Service office, said that the climate in central and western Nebraska may play a role in how smoke is distributed in the region. The state’s climate becomes more aird west of Kearney, Nebraska, and the lack of moisture allows for greater temperature swings. More fluctuation means...

As of last Thursday, the 7-day average of cases stood at 670. A week prior, the average was just over 800. The last few weeks, cases in Nebraska have bounced around between the 600s and 800s – and it appears cases have plateaued.

The largest COVID-19 transmission lies in mostly rural counties scattered across the state, according to the state’s dashboard. The statewide case rate stands at 435. Five counties – Box Butte, Frontier, McPherson, Valley and Wheeler – all hold case rates above 1,000.

As for hospitalizations, they saw a favorable dip last week. At the latest check, the Dept. of Health and Human Services tallied 407 occupied beds last Thursday, which is about 10.5% of the state’s capacity. A few days prior, nearly 450 beds were filled.

The Nebraska Legislature gave first-round approval Friday to a map redrawing the state's congressional districts.

The Nebraska Legislature gave first-round approval Friday to a map redrawing the state's congressional districts.

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The Nebraska Legislature continued its work on redistricting Thursday, and lawmakers prepared to take a closer look at the state's child welfare contract with Saint Francis Ministries.