Southwest Public Health Department’s nine-county region has topped four digits in cases even as Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts has tightened down on the state’s directed health measures,.
    As of Monday, the district, which includes Chase, Dundy, Frontier, Furnas, Hayes, Hitchcock, Perkins, Keith and Red Willow counties, had 1,122 total case, 725 of those found in the last 30 days.
    Chase County had 187, second in the region to Red Willow County with 367. Keith was third with 161, followed by Furnas with 135; Perkins, 87; Hitchcock, 70; Frontier, 52; Dundy, 44; and Hayes, 24.
    The district’s risk dial remained at orange, one below the most severe of the four setting.
    Myra Stoney, health director for SWNPHD, said the relatively high numbers of people testing positive in Chase County probably is a result of more testing, but also of people not following proper procedures.
    At one time, Chase County Hospital was doing a lot of testing, Stoney said, and “you do more testing, you find more people who are positive.”

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