Health officials today reported positive news about COVID-19. For the first time in months, the Truckee Meadows Covid Risk Meter is now in the “high” category, down from “very high” where the region has been listed since November.
The rankings are determined in part by hospital patient capacities and daily positive cases.
“Things are looking really great in terms of the prediction,” said University of Nevada, Reno, professor Aditya Nair. “The trends are showing we are going down.”
Reno Council member Naomi Duerr agreed.
“Death is a lagging indicator, so we don’t use it in the meter to say where we’re going,” she said. “I will say for this meeting that deaths are down as well, very significantly.”
The region is not out of the woods yet, officials warned. They said the lowering numbers of new cases is attributed to greater community awareness about the disease and making behavior changes, such as social distancing and mask-wearing.
“We all agree the changes are driven by our people,” Duerr added. “Their behavior is reflected in the meter.”
Having people in your home is still risky, they cautioned, and appears to be the primary way COVID-19 is spreading.
The county is approaching nearly 600 deaths from COVID-19 since the virus first appeared in Washoe County in March of 2020.
Vaccine availability, however, remains a challenge. Washoe County Health District officials yesterday announced the district was scaling back vaccinations because of the lack of available vaccines.
New variants of the diseases, however, may be less effectively treated by current vaccinations. Dr. John Hess of St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center said the new variants, such as the more virulent strain announced in the Las Vegas area yesterday, are likely in Washoe County.
