Health officials in the Nebraska panhandle continue to keep us updated on COVID-19 in the area. 

Monday, Panhandle Public Health District (PPHD) announced 393 new cases and 242 new recoveries. Two new deaths were also reported. Health officials say a Cheyenne County woman in her 70s and a Kimball County woman in her 90s have passed away. 

Overall, last week's positivity rate was down from the previous two weeks. For the week of Nov. 15, 42.6 percent of tests came back positive. That's down from the week of Nov. 8 (53.8 percent).

The peak weekly positivity rate came during the week of Nov. 1, when 62.7 percent of tests came back positive. 

The panhandle's COVID-19 risk dial remained in the same place as last week, staying the severe risk category.

Here is a breakdown of new cases by county:

Scotts Bluff - 245

Cheyenne and Box Butte - 35 each

Morrill - 23

Dawes - 22

Sheridan - 17

Kimball - 6

Deuel - 3

Garden and Grant - 2 each

Sioux - 1

Under investigation - 2

Here is a breakdown of new recoveries by county: 

Scotts Bluff - 72

Cheyenne - 54

Box Butte - 36

Morrill - 27

Dawes - 18

Kimball - 16

Sheridan - 11

Banner - 4

Garden - 2

 Deuel and Grant - 1 each

TOTALS (as of Nov. 23)

County Total Cases Active Recovered Deaths

Change in number of active cases since last Monday (Nov. 16)*
Banner 10 1 9 0 -1
Box Butte 582 133 446 3 +22
Cheyenne 444 141 300 3 -32
Dawes 455 81 364 10 +3
Deuel 34 6 28 0 0
Garden 68 15 53 0 -3
Grant 15 6 7 2 +2
Kimball 154 38 113 3 -20
Morrill 326 86 236 4 -1
Scotts Bluff 3,094 1,913 1,162 19 +346
Sheridan  266 62 200 4 +1
Sioux 17 5 11 1 +3
TOTAL: 5,465 2,487 2,929 49 +320

*This number takes into account new cases, recoveries and deaths to show the change in the number of people currently diagnosed with COVID-19. For example, on Nov. 16, Cheyenne County had 173 active cases of COVID-19. On Nov. 23, that number was 141. This means there are 32 less people who actively have the virus versus one week ago. 

This is intended to give a view of how things are changing in each county week-to-week.