Lincoln – Nebraska State Patrol troopers have ramped up their efforts to ensure that residents are following the state’s new social distancing rules to fight the spread of coronavirus.

A spokesman for the Nebraska State Patrol said the agency hasn’t ticketed anyone as of last Monday afternoon, although state troopers are able to do so under new restrictions that were expanded statewide the previous Friday.

Cody Thomas said that a trooper kept watch over a recent “cruise night” in Crete but didn’t see any violations. Thomas said the patrol has redirected some of its troopers from traffic enforcement because there aren’t as many motorists on the road as more people limit their travel.

Gov. Pete Ricketts said in his Monday news briefing at the state Capitol that officials are focusing on getting voluntary compliance and encouraging residents to stay at home and avoid large groups where the new virus could spread.

“We don’t have enough police to force every Nebraskan to participate,” Ricketts said. “What we need is for Nebraskans to understand why they need to do this and why it’s going to protect people in their communities. And when you explain it, generally they do.”

Ricketts said state law enforcement officers also have visited big box stores in Omaha to check on whether customers and employees were maintaining a safe distance to keep the pandemic from worsening.

The restrictions, known as directed health measures, have forced restaurants and bars to close their dining areas and required doctors to postpone elective surgeries, among other restrictions. Ricketts had been imposing the orders on different regions where public health officials had identified cases that couldn’t be traced.

Anyone who violates the orders could be charged with a misdemeanor and face a $100 fine.

Nebraska, Iowa, and a minority of other states have faced criticism for not imposing so-called stay-at-home orders that require residents to stay at home except to exercise, shop for groceries, get urgent medical care and other essential needs.

Ricketts said he and Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds spoke last Monday with Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country’s top infectious disease effort, and Fauci told them that he supported their actions and both states were “on the same page” with his directions.

Ricketts was asked whether the directed health measures amount to a “voluntary stay at home,” but he reiterated that the measures are a way to ask Nebraskans to voluntarily do a better job at social distancing. Ricketts said if the state needs to do more, it will.

“We’re trying to get people to voluntarily comply,” he said.

Fauci had previously said all states should issue stay-at-home orders. Ricketts said Nebraska’s restrictions are very similar to what other states have done, and “part of this is just semantics.”

At the White House later on Monday, Fauci said that he had a good conversation with both of the governors, saying they are doing a “really good job.”

“Functionally, even though they have not given the strict stay at home, what they are doing is really functionally equivalent to that,” he said. “I want to make sure that people understand that, just because they don’t have a very strict say at home order, they have in place a lot of things that are totally compatible with what everyone else is doing.”

The Daily Record’s Scott Stewart contributed to this report.