Shutdown

HARTINGTON — The arrival of the COVID-19 coronavirus in Nebraska has caused school and business closures in Cedar County and across the state.

Schools, churches, businesses and government offices have all announced major changes in an effort to stop from spreading the contagion.

Gov. Pete Ricketts announced in a Monday press conference that he is recommending people follow the Centers for Disease Control recommendations, which suggest public gatherings be limited to 10 or fewer people.

After the announcement came out, the Omaha Archdiocese immediately canceled all Masses and communal celebrations of the sacraments.

The Governor’s announcement also prompted all northeast Nebraska schools to begin making plans to shut down this week.

Hartington-Newcastle, Wynot and Cedar Catholic were all closed the last three days of last week.

Both Hartington schools reopened Monday, but announced plans late in the day to shut down for at least two weeks beginning on Tuesday. “Given the Governor’s

“Given the Governor’s recommendations, I just took a look around at lunch time and saw 100 kids crammed into the lunch room and just thought, ‘this can’t be good,’” Supt. A.J. Johnson said. “I think the message we need to send to people is that they should all take social distancing as seriously as possible.”

The Hartington-Newcastle School Board met Monday night and discussed the COVID-19 virus at length.

The shutdown will close schools for two weeks. The situation will be re-evaluated in the meantime, HNS Supt. A.J. Johnson said.

“I fully expect the schools to remain closed for more than two weeks,” Johnson told Board members.

School staff and administrators have been meeting to discuss ways to keep the students engaged in education while they are out of school.

Johnson said administrators and teachers are all meeting to talk about education options.

“We are having extensive discussions about how to educate kids moving forward,” Johnson said.

This will present a real challenge for teachers, administrators and students, Principal Corey Uldrich said.

“This is a very unnerving time,” he said. “There is no manual on how to do this.”

State Dept. of Education Commissioner Matthew Blomstedt said schools only have to worry about keeping their kids safe, and finding ways to educate them outside of the traditional school setting. State mandated testing

State mandated testing and the state mandate that all schools must have students in class a certain number of days each school year are being waived this year, Blomstedt said.

Fr. Owen Korte said Holy Trinity and Cedar Catholic teachers are now busy preparing take-home packets of work to do at home.

The packets should all be available to be picked up at church each Friday, he said.

The closures are an effort to keep area residents healthy, at the same time, however, they are causing distress to many area businesses.

“I worry about what this situation means for our businesses,” said Hartington Chamber of Commerce President Karma Schulte. “I am hopeful (they) will all be able to continue to stay open and remain prosperous.”