As Nebraska continues to battle the coronavirus, two Nebraska senators are saying the state is taking the wrong approach to ending the virus. They claim we’re not protecting ourselves, just prolonging our susceptibility.

"We have to make some common sense decisions here and going forward we need to protect our most vulnerable, open our schools and do the things we need to do to get our economy back to normal," Senator Steve Erdman said. 

Senators Steve Erdman of Bayard (District 47) and Steve Halloran of Hastings (District 33) recently wrote a letter detailing their thoughts. In it they say herd immunity is the only way to beat the virus and that the state can’t wait for a vaccine to accomplish it. Reopening as soon as possible is the route to take in their minds.

"By flattening the curve what we do is extend the amount of time that one can be exposed to the virus," Erdman said. "I've gotten a lot of pushback on the herd immunity, and I can tell you right now we won't see a vaccine in time to do us any good."

Governor Pete Ricketts responded during a COVID-19 response update, saying the won’t stray from the current plan because the goal is to not overwhelm the health care system.

"It's not a plan per se," Ricketts said. "Well, I suppose if it was a plan you wouldn't do anything and you'd see a very sharp peak where everybody would get it all at once and then you'd overwhelm your healthcare system. Of course, our plan is to avoid that."

Despite some models saying otherwise, Erdman does not believe that would happen under the approach laid out in the letter.

"I don't see us overcrowding our medical facilities," Erdman said. "We've been waiting for people to show up to overcrowd them and that hasn't happened. I think we overestimated how many beds were going to be needed."

Even as cases quickly rise in Hall County, Erdman says reopening schools and businesses is the right move.

"I don't know if it overtaxed their system there, if that would've happened, they could've moved [patients] to Kearney or Hastings," Erdman said. "I don't think that is a prerequisite for continuing the shut down just because one hospital was almost at capacity."

Erdman and Halloran’s details achieving herd immunity by “allowing those who are less vulnerable in society to interact with the disease,” but testing and isolating those who are more at-risk until the general population is considered immune. Erdman says this approach is similar to South Korea’s.

"I'm not interested in putting people in jeopardy," Erdman said. "I'm interested is solving the problem, opening our economy and putting the people in place that need to be there to work and protecting those who are most vulnerable." 

Erdman says current mitigation factors in place aren’t defeating the virus, but instead destroying the economy and causing other problems, saying in the letter we’re making “the cure worse than the disease.”

"Domestic violence is up 800 to 900 percent," Erdman said. "We're going to have more suicides, we're going to have more mental illness, and we're going to have more unemployment. If you think about it, those are the repercussions of the cure."

He says he realizes his stance is not the most popular one.

"I will get a lot of push back," he said. "There will be people listening to this interview that think I'm nuts, and I understand that."

But Erdman remains concerned for business owners, farmers and ranchers which he thinks may never recover.

"I'll tell you right now that on May 11th, our district is going to be totally different and it will never recover," he said. "We have small businesses that are never going to open, we have agricultural people that are never going to be in business again."

You can read Senators Erdman and Halloran's full letter here: http://news.legislature.ne.gov/dist47/