COVID-19

Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19)

Coronavirus Disease, or COVID-19, is an infectious disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The virus can spread from an infected person's mouth or nose in small liquid particles when they cough, sneeze, speak, sing or breathe. These particles range from larger respiratory droplets to smaller aerosols, which may linger in the air and accumulate in indoor places where people are gathered and there is poor ventilation. Most people infected with the virus will experience mild to moderate respiratory illness and recover without requiring special treatment. However, some will become seriously ill and require medical attention, including older people and those with underlying medical conditions like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease, or cancer.

The best ways to protect yourself from COVID-19 are to get vaccinated and boosted when you are eligible, following testing guidelines, wear a mask, wash your hands, and practice physical distancing.

COVID-19 Vaccination

The Sarpy/Cass Health Department is collaborating with State and local partners to equitably distribute the COVID-19 vaccine in a way that provides the most protection for Nebraskans.

If you need assistance in obtaining the COVID-19 vaccine:

Please call 402-339-4334 and press option 1 or email [email protected].

Who can get a COVID-19 vaccine or booster?

The most up-to-date recommendations can be found on the CDC's Vaccines for COVID-19 webpage.

What are the current COVID-19 vaccine recommendations?

The CDC has updated the COVID-19 vaccine recommendations as of March 7, 2024:

CDC recommends the 2023–2024 updated COVID-19 vaccines.
Everyone aged 5 years and older should get 1 dose of an updated COVID-19 vaccine to protect against serious illness from COVID-19.
Children aged 6 months–4 years need multiple doses of COVID-19 vaccines to be up to date, including at least 1 dose of updated COVID-19 vaccine.
People aged 65 years and older who received 1 dose of any updated 2023-2024 COVID-19 vaccine should receive 1 additional dose of an updated COVID-19 vaccine at least 4 months after the previous updated dose.

2023-2024 Updated, Bivalent, and Original COVID-19 Vaccines:

2023-2024 Updated COVID-19 Vaccines: As of September 12, 2023, the 2023–2024 updated Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines were recommended by CDC for use in the United States.

The 2023–2024 updated COVID-19 vaccines more closely target the XBB lineage of the Omicron variant and could restore protection against severe COVID-19 that may have decreased over time. The CDC anticipates the updated vaccines will be better at fighting currently circulating variants.

Novavax’s updated COVID-19 vaccine is currently under review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for emergency use authorization (EUA) in individuals aged 12 and older.

2023-2023 Bivalent Vaccines: As of September 11, 2023, the bivalent Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines are no longer available for use in the United States.

The 2022–2023 bivalent vaccines were designed to protect against both the original virus that causes COVID-19 and the Omicron variants BA.4 and BA.5. Two COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers, Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, had developed bivalent COVID-19 vaccines.

Original Vaccines: As of April 18, 2023, the original Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines are no longer available for use in the United States.

As of May 6, 2023, J&J/Janssen COVID-19 vaccine is no longer available for use in the United States.

Previous COVID-19 vaccines were called “original” because they were designed to protect against the original virus that causes COVID-19.

Where can I get a COVID-19 vaccine or booster?

Search for a COVID-19 vaccine provider by zip code and vaccine type on the Vaccine Finder website or call 1-800-232-0233.

Residents who are homebound due to an injury, disability, transportation challenge or medical condition that make it difficult to leave the home and are wanting to receive an in-home COVID-19 vaccination, please call 402-339-4334.

I lost my COVID-19 vaccine card. How do I get a replacement?

Follow the steps below:

1. Look up your immunization record history in the Nebraska State Immunization Information System (NESIIS). Please note, if your social security number has not been entered into the system, your record will not be found in the search.

If your record is unavailable in the NESIIS search...

2. Contact the clinic where you received the vaccine. The clinic will have records of the vaccine type and the date the vaccine was administered. You MUST contact the clinic you attended (i.e., pharmacy) to replicate the vaccine card. The Health Department CANNOT replace cards for residents attending other clinics.

If you attended a Health Department clinic...

3. E-mail your first and last name, date of birth, and home address to [email protected]. Please allow up to one week to provide you with a replacement vaccination card. The Health Department may not be able to replace a card for vaccine given at other clinics or pharmacies.

COVID-19 Testing

Where can I get a COVID-19 Test?

Search for a COVID-19 testing providers by zip code on the Testing Location website.

Also, many primary care providers offer COVID-19 testing for their patients. Call your regular doctor’s office to ask about testing.

Free At-Home COVID-19 Test Kits

The Nebraska Department of Health & Human Services has launched an at-home testing initiative with the goal of using fast, free, and convenient testing to control the spread of COVID-19. Find a location to pick up the test kits at eMed Nebraska.

Nebraska eMed Test Kit Instructions English
Nebraska eMed Test Kit Instructions Spanish

Reporting of COVID-19 Positive Results via At-Home Test Kits

Currently Nebraska does not include at-home positive test results in official COVID-19 case numbers. The Sarpy/Cass Health Department is tracking residents who test positive via an at-home kit to include in unofficial counts. If you would like to self-report a positive at-home result, please call 402-339-4334 or email [email protected]. Please provide first and last name, date of birth, address, and date the positive test was collected.

Additional Information about COVID-19

COVID-19 Symptoms or Tested Positive for COVID-19?

If you have COVID-19 symptoms or have tested positive for COVID-19, the following information may assist you in slowing the spread of the virus.

Preventing Spread of Respiratory Viruses When You're Sick

Travel

International Travel Health Notices: CDC recommendations for postponing or canceling travel to international countries affected by COVID-19.

I'm traveling internationally soon. What COVID-19 vaccination documentation is required?

At this time, airlines and the destination country determine their own vaccination documentation requirements. These vary widely and are changing frequently. If you need documentation in addition to the COVID-19 vaccination card, call our office at 402-339-4334. For information regarding current requirements for masking, testing, and other COVID-19 precautions during travel, the following websites may be helpful:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): International Travel During COVID-19

Help if you are Visually Impaired

It can be overwhelming to find the resources you need during this challenging time, especially if you have poor or no vision. If you can’t see or can’t see very well, call Outlook Enrichment’s COVID-19 Help Line at 531-365-5059 for assistance from people who understand vision challenges and want to help. This line is staffed 8 to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Messages received outside of these times will be answered within 24 hours. These resources can also be found at outlookne.org/covidhelp.

Information for the Public

Isolation and Precautions for People with COVID-19
How COVID-19 Spreads
COVID-19: How to Protect Yourself and Others
COVID-19 Vaccines and Pregnancy
Nonpharmaceutical Interventions

Information for Healthcare Professionals

COVID-19 information for healthcare professionals

Information for Schools

Guidance for COVID-19 Prevention in K-12 Schools
Nebraska Department of Education Coronavirus Resources for Schools

Crafted by Firespring

Privacy Policy

What Information Do We Collect? When you visit our website you may provide us with two types of information: personal information you knowingly choose to disclose that is collected on an individual basis and website use information collected on an aggregate basis as you and others browse our website.
Personal Information You Choose to Provide We may request that you voluntarily supply us with personal information, including your email address, postal address, home or work telephone number and other personal information for such purposes as correspondence, placing an order, requesting an estimate, or participating in online surveys. If you choose to correspond with us through email, we may retain the content of your email messages together with your email address and our responses. We provide the same protections for these electronic communications that we employ in the maintenance of information received by mail and telephone.
Website Use Information Similar to other websites, our site may utilize a standard technology called "cookies" (see explanation below, "What Are Cookies?") and web server logs to collect information about how our website is used. Information gathered through cookies and server logs may include the date and time of visits, the pages viewed, time spent at our website, and the sites visited just before and just after ours. This information is collected on an aggregate basis. None of this information is associated with you as an individual.
How Do We Use the Information That You Provide to Us? Broadly speaking, we use personal information for purposes of administering our business activities, providing service and support and making available other products and services to our customers and prospective customers. Occasionally, we may also use the information we collect to notify you about important changes to our website, new services and special offers we think you will find valuable. The lists used to send you product and service offers are developed and managed under our traditional standards designed to safeguard the security and privacy of all personal information provided by our users. You may at any time to notify us of your desire not to receive these offers.
What Are Cookies? Cookies are a feature of web browser software that allows web servers to recognize the computer used to access a website. Cookies are small pieces of data that are stored by a user's web browser on the user's hard drive. Cookies can remember what information a user accesses on one web page to simplify subsequent interactions with that website by the same user or to use the information to streamline the user's transactions on related web pages. This makes it easier for a user to move from web page to web page and to complete commercial transactions over the Internet. Cookies should make your online experience easier and more personalized.
How Do We Use Information Collected From Cookies? We use website browser software tools such as cookies and web server logs to gather information about our website users' browsing activities, in order to constantly improve our website and better serve our users. This information assists us to design and arrange our web pages in the most user-friendly manner and to continually improve our website to better meet the needs of our users and prospective users. Cookies help us collect important business and technical statistics. The information in the cookies lets us trace the paths followed by users to our website as they move from one page to another. Web server logs allow us to count how many people visit our website and evaluate our website's visitor capacity. We do not use these technologies to capture your individual email address or any personally identifying information about you.
Notice of New Services and Changes Occasionally, we may use the information we collect to notify you about important changes to our website, new services and special offers we think you will find valuable. As a user of our website, you will be given the opportunity to notify us of your desire not to receive these offers by clicking on a response box when you receive such an offer or by sending us an email request.
How Do We Secure Information Transmissions? When you send confidential personal information to us on our website, a secure server software which we have licensed encrypts all information you input before it is sent to us. The information is scrambled en route and decoded once it reaches our website. Other email that you may send to us may not be secure unless we advise you that security measures will be in place prior to your transmitting the information. For that reason, we ask that you do not send confidential information such as Social Security, credit card, or account numbers to us through an unsecured email.
How Do We Protect Your Information? Information Security -- We utilize encryption/security software to safeguard the confidentiality of personal information we collect from unauthorized access or disclosure and accidental loss, alteration or destruction. Evaluation of Information Protection Practices -- Periodically, our operations and business practices are reviewed for compliance with organization policies and procedures governing the security, confidentiality and quality of our information. Employee Access, Training and Expectations -- Our organization values, ethical standards, policies and practices are committed to the protection of user information. In general, our business practices limit employee access to confidential information, and limit the use and disclosure of such information to authorized persons, processes and transactions.
How Can You Access and Correct Your Information? You may request access to all your personally identifiable information that we collect online and maintain in our database by emailing us using the contact form provided to you within the site structure of our website.
Do We Disclose Information to Outside Parties? We may provide aggregate information about our customers, sales, website traffic patterns and related website information to our affiliates or reputable third parties, but this information will not include personally identifying data, except as otherwise provided in this privacy policy.
What About Legally Compelled Disclosure of Information? We may disclose information when legally compelled to do so, in other words, when we, in good faith, believe that the law requires it or for the protection of our legal rights.
Permission to Use of Materials The right to download and store or output the materials in our website is granted for the user's personal use only, and materials may not be reproduced in any edited form. Any other reproduction, transmission, performance, display or editing of these materials by any means mechanical or electronic without our express written permission is strictly prohibited. Users wishing to obtain permission to reprint or reproduce any materials appearing on this site may contact us directly.