Lincoln – Businesses have started reopening in Nebraska, even as the number of coronavirus cases surges, raising concerns among medical experts.

Projections have long suggested the pandemic would peak at the end of April in Nebraska. But Dr. Mark Rupp, chief of the division of infectious diseases at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, said it appears that cases have only plateaued at best – and at much higher levels than had been seen just weeks earlier, the Omaha World-Herald reported.

The number of infections is thought to be far higher than the number of confirmed cases because many people have not been tested, and studies suggest people can be infected with the coronavirus without feeling sick.

“We are not out of the woods by any means,” he said.

Gov. Pete Ricketts last Friday declined to say whether he thinks the state has peaked. He noted the University of Washington model that once had Nebraska cases peaking in late April now has moved the peak into early May.

But he said he’s not so much focused on the case numbers as he is on whether Nebraska’s hospitals are being overwhelmed with patients, and they’re not.

“We slowed down the spread of the virus, we flattened the curve, so that peak did not overwhelm our health care system,” he said.

Dr. Daniel Brailita, an infectious disease specialist with Mary Lanning Healthcare in Hastings, said the models for the pandemic showing an April peak clearly did not anticipate how explosively the virus would spread within meatpacking communities.

Because of huge outbreaks in a number of meatpacking counties, Nebraska leads the nation in percentage growth in new confirmed cases, according to a World-Herald analysis of national data.

“They started like a burning fire,” Brailita said. “West of Lincoln and Omaha, we had some very scary spikes in hospital admissions and (ventilator patients).”

Both Brailita and Rupp said it’s important for people to be vigilant in following all of the guidance and restrictions that remain in place.

“If we ignore the social distancing, if we stop wearing masks and don’t pay attention to hygiene, we will see a surge in cases,” Rupp said.