Nebraska state senators urge governor to reinstate COVID-19 dashboard

LINCOLN, Neb. (WOWT) - A handful of state senators are making a push to reinstate Nebraska’s COVID-19 data dashboard.

State Sens. Machaela Cavanaugh, Jen Day, Megan Hunt, John McCollister, Terrell McKinney, Carol Blood, Matt Hansen, John Cavanaugh, Patty Pansing Brooks, Tony Vargas, and Adam Morfeld sent a letter to Gov. Pete Ricketts asking him to bring back the state’s interactive COVID-19 data site.

“Basic numbers shared on a weekly basis is not enough,” the senators’ letter states.

After eliminating the dashboard at the end of June, the state later added a static page of numbers on its website that it updates on a weekly basis.

“Businesses, organizations, and school districts are struggling to make informed decisions about how best to run their day-to-day activities, as well as make long-term plans based on existing incomplete data,” the letter states.

The weekly report doesn’t include data the dashboard did, such as county-by-county infection rates, COVID-19 related deaths, daily available hospital beds, respirators, and overall staffed beds.

“Please reinstate the dashboard, with the daily updates from all 93 counties, to enable all Nebraskans to make informed decisions with the most up-to-date information,” the senators’ letter states.

Copyright 2021 WOWT. All rights reserved.