NSCS, State agree to house quarantined citizens if needed

If implemented, the agreement could provide nearly 650 rooms across the state colleges

In the event they are needed, residence halls at Chadron State and the other Nebraska State Colleges will be available to be used to house people in need of quarantining due to COVID-19, a press release from Nebraska State College System Chancellor Paul Turman said, Friday afternoon.

The partnership between the NSCS, the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, and the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency provides housing for individuals from the general public who do not require immediate hospital care and who are not able to quarantine at home according to Kim Engel, director of Panhandle Public Health District.

The use of the residence halls has not been implemented at this time, and CSC students who may need to move themselves or their belongings will be contacted by the college, Turman said.

According to Jon Hansen, enrollment management, marketing and student services vice president, if the agreement were implemented, the operation, including the staffing of residence halls, would be run by Nebraska DHHS. Turman said if needed, the state colleges, which include Chadron, Peru, and Wayne State, could have 642 rooms available by mid-May. Hansen also suggested the timeline for the possible use of the halls would be between May and August, which is mostly following the end of the spring semester.

The Eagle has not yet learned which residence halls would be used, or how their use would be implemented by the State. At time of print, Engel had not yet received full details regarding the agreement, which she and Hansen both called “forward looking.”

The Eagle attempted to contact Nebraska DHHS to obtain more information after receiving Turman’s press release, but the offices had closed for the weekend. Among the information The Eagle is seeking is if the college would house individuals from across the state or Panhandle, or if only those in the Pine Ridge region will be served.

“Practically speaking, I don’t think that one location in the Panhandle is probably going to work for everybody in the Pandhandle,” Engel said. “But these are some major systems that they’ve started with.”

Between the NSCS and Nebraska’s public four-year colleges and universities, who have also come to similar agreements, about 3,000 rooms have been identified across the state, according to Turman.

“Hopefully, we won’t have to use these accommodations, but I do think it’s a good idea that those plans are in motion,” Engel said.

Prior to the agreement, Pete Ricketts, Nebraska governor, requested research into what facilities statewide could house individuals if need be.

The state has already implemented a housing system that provides safe rooms for healthcare workers and first responders to quarantine away from their families if need be. That system has used agreements between the state and hotels.

The Panhandle currently has 34 positive cases of COVID-19 mostly locate in Scotts Bluff County (18 cases) and Kimball County (10). The public health system has tested 742 people. It was announced that 18 people have recovered from the virus during Friday’s Panhandle Unified Command daily briefing.

Statewide, 1,138 have tested positive for the virus and 24 have died.