Nebraska’s two major metro areas expressed concern over their most recent COVID-19 figures on Friday.

Lincoln mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird held a press briefing Friday afternoon with figures from across the city in various departments. The briefing came on the heels of an announcement that Lincoln moved into the orange level, which is noted as “high”, the second highest alert level on the COVID-19 alert scale. It is the highest level for the city since the dial was introduced. Six new deaths were reported in Lancaster County this week.

“One of the things that’s really impacting us is we still have hospital capacity, but our testing turnaround time is really a concern,” said Lincoln Lancaster County Health Director Pat Lopez.

Lincoln Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Steve Joel, whose school had recently announced a projected return to full-attendance in the district, pulled back on that announcement on Friday. LPS has been operating on an A/B schedule and will be keeping that in place for the time being.

“It seems from the moment we made that announcement to today, we’ve not done very well as a community,” said Joel. “So in light of that, because we wanted to be a good community partner and do our part, we’re going to delay 100% student attendance and keep that A/B schedule.”

“I want you to know I feel badly about that,” Joel said. “I’ve said from day one that we want to get our kids back with their friends, back with their teachers and back in their activities, but sadly conditions don’t allow for that right now.”

“We do not currently have spread in this schools,” Lopez said. “We’re very cognizant of that. This is happening outside the classroom.”

Meanwhile, in a five-county radius around Omaha, hospital capacity now stands at 93%, according to the University of Nebraska Medical Center. This is up from 85% as reported on Monday. According to the report, there are 25 intensive care unit beds available.