Ricketts Admits Contact Tracers Did Not Act Quickly Enough

Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts is acknowledging that state officials should have moved more quickly to interview people who contracted the coronavirus in recent weeks so they could warn others who may have been exposed. Ricketts says the recent surge in virus cases created a backlog of people who needed to be called, and officials within his administration didn’t add more workers to help with the extra workload. The state now has a backlog of 2,600 people who still need to contacted. Some people who tested positive recently have waited more than a week for one of the state’s “contract tracers” to ask where they’ve been and who they might have infected, part of a broader effort to slow the virus’ spread.