As Nevada continues to wage war on the expansive COVID-19 battlefield, Governor Sisolak and state health officials fight for more vaccines and a downturn in the number of cases may be on the horizon.
The most recent COVID-19 data reflects that fewer positive tests have been reported statewide, although health officials are hesitant to call the slight decline a trend. On Monday, January 25th, less than 1,000 cases were reported in a single day for the first time since early November. However, officials do believe this is an indicator that mitigation efforts in Nevada are working.
Vaccines Update: Governor Steve Sisolak issued a press release on Monday stating he has written to the acting U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary (USDHHS), Norris Cochran, expressing his concerns over Nevada’s reduced allocation of COVID-19 vaccines. Sisolak indicated that Nevada received the second-lowest number of vaccines among all U.S. states. As of Sunday, 286,950 doses of the vaccine have been received – placing the vaccine allotment 49th next to South Carolina.
“As Governor, I have directed every government resource to focus on getting shots into the arms of Nevadans,” said the governor. “We need our fair share of vaccine doses to stand up and sustain successful vaccination efforts to reach Nevadans in an equitable fashion.” In his letter, Sisolak asked Cochran to look into why Nevada is so low on the allocation list, and more importantly, to find ways to increase the allocation both immediately and for the long term. “As Nevada’s Governor, it is my duty to make sure our federal government lives up to that promise for all 3.2 million residents in this State.”
As reported by Candice McDaniel, Health Bureau Chief for the Bureau of Child, Family, and Community Wellness, as of Sunday, 164,352 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered statewide, including 22,438 second-round doses.
Coronavirus: On Monday, Caleb Cage, Nevada COVID-19 Response Director, issued a separate press release updating Nevadans on the recently confirmed new strain of the coronavirus.
According to Cage, the Nevada State Public Health Laboratory (NSPHL) at the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine has characterized the first known Nevada case of the new coronavirus strain (B.1.1.7 known as the United Kingdom variant). Southern Nevada Public Health Laboratory (SNPHL) detected the B.1.1.7 strain during routine testing. The specimen was collected during community collection activities.
During testing, it was discovered the specimen was showing characteristics of the variant. NSPHL confirmed upon sequencing that the new strain is more contagious, but it is unknown whether the variant causes a more severe illness than the reference COVID-19 strain. The Laboratory has been analyzing positive COVID-19 virus samples for the B.1.1.7 strain since mid-December 2020.
Statewide COVID-19 Data:
On January 26th, state health officials reported that the cumulative number of positive cases in Nevada is at 273,873, up from 265,143 last week, however, the rate of positive cases reported daily has slowed.
Hospitalized individuals with confirmed COVID cases dropped from 1,429 last week to 1,307 this week and is significantly down from the 1,739 reported on January 4th.
COVID related deaths increased from 3,863 to 4,134 in the same period
The overall test positivity rate has dipped slightly over the last two weeks. The positive rate is currently at 18.6% down from 20.5 % reported on January 20th.
The State is reporting 1,144 new cases per day, over a rolling 14-day average – the lowest since the spike in early November.
Churchill County COVID-19 Data: Churchill County reported an increase of 43 positive cases over last week.
Active positive cases are up from 250 last week to 304
The number of individuals hospitalized with COVID remains at 6
The total number of deaths increased to 48 from 45 last week
Cumulative positive cases are now at 1,798
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