Two weeks into December, 50 people have already passed away from COVID-19 in Washoe County–raising the total to 328 people who’ve passed away since the beginning of the pandemic.
In his regular COVID-19 update, Washoe County district health officer Kevin Dick said the county has been experiencing high community transmission and has been flagged for several weeks by the state’s task force.
The seven-day moving average of new cases is 453.4. “Just a week ago, that was 372,” Dick said. One in 10 residents is “presumed to be infected” in the community.
The Health District is struggling as the number of cases keeps surging, with disease investigation, contact tracing and notifications of positive results suffering. The high number of cases is “taxing” the district staff, who are no longer able to manage these tasks as much as they’d like to, said Dick.
“We were able to do that until mid-October,” he said. “Our priority now is to notify people that they are positive,” and need to isolate. These new patients are also expected to notify people they came in contact with, unlike before when district staff did that.
He appealed to people to understand the seriousness of the situation.
This situation will mean, for many suffering from COVID-19, they’ll need to self-monitor. Dick explained the main criteria for determining recovery:
- One has to wait at least 10 days since the symptoms appeared
- One has not had a fever for 24 hours without fever-reducing medication
- One also needs to have their symptoms such as cough or shortness of breath, improving. They need to be on the mend.
There are 12,245 active cases of COVID-19 countywide as of Wednesday. The actual number could be higher by thousands, but health district staff is unable to track all of the cases, according to Dick.
Hospitalizations are also quite high, and the health district is anticipating that the number of hospitalizations will continue to surge with new cases as a result of the Thanksgiving gatherings that they believe have taken place. 
First doses of vaccine to arrive next week
The Health District is expected to receive the first shipment of 3,600 doses of COVID-19 vaccine early next week. They anticipate that it will be the Pfizer vaccine, Dick said, stressing that the vaccine is safe and effective.
He also reminded Nevadans that vaccines don’t stop COVID-19; getting vaccinated stops it. Dick also pointed out the need for people to get vaccinated and not acting complacent because others in the community are getting vaccinated.
Vaccination stops individuals from getting sick, but it doesn’t guarantee that they will no longer transmit COVID-19, said Dick. Health officials will continue to monitor and observe the disease trends in the community despite the arrival of the vaccine. And, people will need to keep up with their efforts of masking, being socially distant and handwashing.
Reno Livestock Events Center, which has so far been used for testing, will now be used as the drive-through vaccination post.
To help people with vaccine misinformation, the county and state are working together to come up with a plan to educate communities, said Dick.
The Health District has collaborated with Renown to distribute the vaccine by using its drive-through facility.
St. Mary’s Incline Community Hospital will be able to get the vaccine directly from the district.
Health district will no longer provide COVID certification for employees
Until recently, the district was certifying employees as safe to resume work at the request of employers. The district will no longer offer this help, said Dick.
From now on, the district is asking employers to shoulder the responsibility. We are asking employers to work with their employees to know when an employee was informed that they were exposed, quarantined post-contact, or the day they received their positive test results, said Dick. This information would inform the employers on when it is safe for a recovered employee to return to work.
“Other jurisdictions, such as Southern Nevada Health District, have never ever provided letters for employees for returning to work,” Dick said.
Numbers at-a-glance
- Total COVID-19 cases in Washoe County: 28,927 up from 25,870 last week
- Deaths: 338 (+10), up from 295 last week
- Recovered: 16,802 (+732) up from 15,585 last week
- Active Cases: 11,787 (-458) up from 9,990 last week
- Tests performed: 260,327 (+1,789) up from 242,721 last week
- Hospitalized: 266 (-19)
According to the Nevada Hospital Association, in Washoe County as of Dec. 9:
- 88% staffed hospital beds are occupied (-1% since 12/8)
- 75% of all licensed hospital beds are occupied (-1%)
- 59% of all Intensive Care Unit beds are occupied (+1%)
- 35% of all ventilators are in use (+0%)
NOTE: Numbers are for all hospital patients in Washoe County and not just COVID-19 patients.
