Washoe County Health District reported 105 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday.
Health Officer Kevin Dick called the numbers “a high day of cases,” pointing out that “this is a seven-day moving average of 71, which is still a high number.”
“We have had a recent peak of 98 on that seven-day moving average,” he said. “Fortunately, we have come down from that peak somewhat.”
But, he cautioned that this momentary dip on a seven-day moving average is a sign of what awaits ahead.
Are we at a pandemic plateau?
According to Dick, the current seven-day average does not mean that the county can relax.
“What we have seen when we look at the trend of COVID-19 cases is we will hit a new high peak and then we will come down a little bit and then we set a new higher plateau than previously, and that’s what we are observing right now,” Dick said.
At a seven-day moving average of 71 the county is in between two peaks of COVID-19 infection.
“My concern is if we continue with [current numbers] and set higher plateaus then we will have an expectation of a new higher peak of cases from that plateau,” Dick explained.
Keeping in mind parties and gatherings at private properties, the health district recognized that people of Washoe County are not being adequately cautious.
This is not the time to stop following already established health practices such as “wearing masks, maintaining social distances, avoiding unnecessary errands, contacts that have the potential for spreading additional disease in the community,” said Dick.
He urged people to “be vigilant, be aware, play your role. We all need to work together to continue to make progress in reducing the spread of COVID-19 in our community.”
Annual flu vaccination has immediate benefit against COVID-19
One of the ways people can stay vigilant is by taking all of the doctor-recommended immunizations, including the flu vaccine.
“I think that the flu vaccine has an immediate benefit merely if they get that vaccine,” said Dick. “So, I will encourage everybody to get the flu vaccine unless they have a medical reason not to do so.”
According to Dick, the vaccination will help, firstly, by eliminating doubt in the minds of health care professionals. “Flu has similar symptoms as COVID-19, so to the extent that we can prevent people from getting the flu that will also avoid our concerns about whether those people will have COVID-19 or not when they may have the flu.”
Secondly, vaccination “protects the health care system” from getting over burdened. Every year, there are “tens of thousand” of people who get hospitalized for the flu, said Dick.
Finally, “there have been studies and suggestions which say people that have active immunizations have less severe cases of COVID-19 because of the stimulus for the immune system that those immunizations provide. That’s another reason for people to keep up on all of their immunizations, including getting that annual flu vaccine.”
City officials, residents worry about “party houses”
In today’s media briefing, Alex Woodley, the City of Reno’s assistant director of neighborhood services, reached out to the people of Reno to ask them to alert the police if they think private houses are hosting large parties.
According to Dick, with adequate social distancing measures in place, the crowd size should be 10 or fewer, if there must be a party.
Woodley said hundreds of people are gathering in private houses for parties, and there has been a lack of social distancing and security issues. Guns were fired in one of those parties, he said.
“Unlike businesses, there are no occupancy limits at private properties,” said Woodley. “We are getting complaints from citizens, and we do recommend that individuals [witnessing large parties in their neighborhoods] do please call us.”
Why this monitoring?
Woodley explained the reason for monitoring. “We are all working with the health department to compare our data to identify if these actual addresses are related to COVID spread,” Woodley said.
The City wants to avoid situations like other cities have had where widespread COVID outbreaks happened from private gatherings, he said.
Answers to questions everyone is asking
Can bars reopen?
Currently, the city is discussing reopenings of some public businesses, including bars. The logic behind this is that at privately-held gatherings there is no regulation, and the disease is spreading unchecked. The district is discussing whether the businesses will give people scope to socialize in regulated environments.
Is the Loyalton fire bad for COVID-19?
Dick said that smoke from the Loyalton fire will have an adverse effect on people’s respiratory function. “The inflammation from the wildfire does make people more susceptible to COVID-19,” he said.
“In case people are already infected with COVID-19 the wildfire can exacerbate the COVID-19 and the severity of the illness they have,” Dick added.
Family gatherings spread COVID-19
Aside from the parties, the disease is spreading from family gatherings as well, said Dick. He mentioned that where families are coming together from different states the chances of COVID spread go up. “We are strongly recommending people to limit social gatherings.”
Numbers at-a-glance:
Total COVID-19 cases in Washoe County: 6,473 (+71 from 8/18)
- Deaths: 128 (+1)
- Recovered: 5,228 (+67)
- Active Cases: 1,117 (+3)
- Tests performed: 102,140 (+839)
Hospital bed and ventilator information available at Nevada Hospital Association as of Aug. 18
- 62% of licensed hospital beds are occupied (+6% since 8/3)
- 49 Confirmed COVID-19 cases
- 17 confirmed or suspected COVID-19 patients in Intensive Care Unit beds
- 25 (12%) of all ventilators are in use
