"I know I'm breaking the hearts of brides across the state," Governor Pete Ricketts said in a press conference Monday afternoon, as he discouraged anyone from holding events with more than ten people for the next two weeks.

Ricketts said weddings, funerals, gyms, restaurant-owners, businesses of all kinds should abide by these new regulations, saying this will help decrease the spread of COVID-19.

"These are trying times but what this is about is protecting those who are most at risk in our community," Ricketts said.

He acknowledged that this will impact businesses, saying they should find ways to change their workflow, but if they can't, employees can apply for benefits.

Ricketts said the state is loosening regulations regarding employment benefits.

Applicants no longer have to be looking for work to qualify and they took away the week-long waiting period between applying and receiving benefits. They're also not going to be charging individual employers.

They said the state's trust fund is in a good position to be able to accommodate this.

These changes will be in affect between March 22nd and May 2nd.

Nebraska's Commissioner for the Department of Education also said schools should abide by these guidelines and prepare to transition to remote learning by the end of the week.

Matthew Blomstedt said they do not want children in large groups in school buildings, but they want learning to continue. He said they're working with schools whose students may not have access to remote learning materials to address those concerns.

When asked whether or not students would be able to move forward to the next grade level, or seniors could graduate, he said that's a big concern right now but that's their goal.

Blomstedt said students do not need to worry about testing or classroom hours at this time.

Ricketts said there is still only one case of community spread coronavirus in Nebraska. They are working to expand testing capabilities, but as it stands right now they have the ability to test 200 people a day.

Ricketts said they haven't needed to test this many people yet, because they go through a screening and have to test for illnesses like the flu and strep throat before getting a COVID-19 test.