16 officials send letter to local, state leaders urging 'stay-at-home' orders

Sixteen Douglas County officials on Friday submitted a letter to Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts, Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert, and Douglas County Health Director Dr. Adi Pour urging them to issue "stay-at-home" orders through the end of April.

"The current orders to self-quarantine, if possible, and practice of social distancing are not sufficient," the letter states.

PDF: Read the letter from 16 public officials

In the letter, the officials say the order is needed for reasons that include:

An insufficient number of COVID-19 tests have been performed in Nebraska.
There's an ongoing national shortage of personal protective equipment, also known as PPEs.
The state has already made arrangement to convert UNO, UNL, and UNK dorms into hospitals and quarantine facilities.
A lack of community testing is giving a false sense of security given new information about COVID-19 might be spreading.
Governors of other states who have issued stay-at-home orders have asked remaining states to do so.
Working Nebraskans are being asked to sacrifice their health and safety.
The projected COVID-19 death toll is rising in Nebraska.

The letter also cites a recommendation by Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases who has also led the U.S. COVID-19 response: "The modeling for deaths related to COVID-19 is contingent on every state being under a stay at home order from today until the end of May. If we do not have a stay at home order instituted immediately there will be an additional loss of life."

The 16 officials named at the bottom of the letter are: