Washoe County Health District Officer Kevin Dick said at the weekly COVID briefing today that he remains concerned as COVID-19 cases in the area are surging again. The new cases per day “represents an 88%,” increase over the last two weeks, he said. According to the official estimation, the number of new COVID cases has almost doubled over the last two weeks.
This week, Washoe County has exceeded two of the three criteria for elevated disease transmission. According to the health district, Washoe County currently ranks highest in the state for case rate per 100,000 population over a 30-day period with 397.2 (the threshold is 200). The positivity rate is at 7.8% (threshold is 7%).
“We have a record high for our seven-day rolling average of new cases,” which is 105.5 new cases per day, Dick said.
To put that number into perspective, Dick reminded people that about 106 new cases per day “is more than the number we had at the end of July,” when there was a surge in COVID-19 cases following the Fourth of July celebrations.
“If you look at the state’s county tracking number, you will see that Washoe County is really in the worst position as far as the number of new cases per 100,000 we are getting,” Dick said.
He also noted that the county is noticing an “increasing number of people that are being tested for COVID-19.”
Simultaneously, there is “a rise of our test positivity rate,” he said. All of these factors combined indicate “that we do have a very high level of disease in the county right now,” Dick explained.
Washoe worse than Clark County
According to Dick, currently, Washoe County is doing worse than Clark County, which has had one of the most serious disease situations in all of Nevada. “We are above Clark County’s test positivity rate. We’ve got the highest number of new cases per 100,000,” said Dick.
WCHD reviewing decision on large gatherings
Following Gov. Steve Sisolak’s directive yesterday on allowing large gatherings of 250 or more under certain conditions, the health district remains concerned that the county is not ready for that size of gatherings, yet.
“In my personal view,” said Dick, “it’s not the right time for us to be making these types of increases in gatherings and interactions where we are at a record high for disease. So, I have made recommendations to the city and county managers so we do not increase the limit of 50 for gatherings at this time.”
However, the county is reviewing the recommendations and guidelines at the moment. The health district plans to talk to the governor’s team this evening to work out a solution.
Health district is overburdened with new cases
Dick was straightforward in painting a picture of the reality with which the staff of the district is battling.
“We are overwhelmed with the number of new cases that continue to increase,” he said. When it comes to disease investigation and contact tracing, the staff are working 12 hour days trying to keep up and “are falling behind [in their] ability to connect with people right away,” said Dick. “They are falling behind in their efforts to keep up with the disease investigation.”
He emphasized that everyone has an individual responsibility to fight the disease.
“Recognize that we are stretched extremely thin at the health district… We need our community to understand we are all in this together, and we need everybody working together to beat COVID-19. This isn’t something that the health district can do for you,” Dick said.
Numbers at-a-glance
Total COVID-19 cases in Washoe County: 9,617 (+75)
- Deaths: 159 (+0)
- Recovered: 8,131 (+134)
- Active Cases: 1,327 (-59)
- Tests performed: 142,382 (+710)
According to the Nevada Hospital Association, in Washoe County as of September 30:
- 61% of all staffed short-term, acute-care hospital beds are occupied (+3% since 9/29)
- 42% of the all Intensive Care Unit beds are occupied (-1%)
- 12%of all ventilators are in use (+0%)
NOTE: Numbers are for all hospital patients in Washoe County and not just COVID-19 patients.
