Today marks one year since the first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in Washoe County. In light of that milestone, Washoe County Health District officials said they’re working to honor staff, volunteers and community partners who’ve helped guide the community through the pandemic.
On March 5, 2020, a man in his 50s was reported to have the disease, and after being initially labeled presumptive positive was confirmed to have COVID-19 the following day. Since then, the county has seen more than 43,000 cases and 649 deaths. The New York Times reported today that one in three Americans has lost someone to the coronavirus.
In the days following the first diagnosis, community response ramped up to include a drive-through testing site, multiple community dashboards, contact tracing, daily updates on case counts and deaths, an alternative care site inside Renown’s converted parking garage, a drive-through vaccination site, and activation of the National Guard in what’s become the longest ever operation in its history.
WCHD provided the following list of accomplishments:
- The Washoe County Health District increased the size of its staff and volunteers from 202 to 390 in one year, an increase of 93%.
- From March 1, 2020 through Feb. 28, 2021, the Health District staff worked over 9,800 hours of overtime to complete normal duties and COVID-19 response duties.
- About 24 hours after the first case, a call center was mobilized with staffing from Washoe County Health District. As the pandemic evolved, unused rooms at the Washoe County Administrative Complex were transformed into a call center and 35 people were hired.
- Since Sept. 29, the Regional COVID-19 Call Center has received more than 52,000 incoming COVID-19-related phone calls. Over 19,500 of those calls have come in since Jan. 11, just as the vaccine information was starting to be released.
- The COVID-19 Disease Investigation staff made thousands of phone calls in addition to the COVID-19 Call Center.
- More than 25,000 investigations were completed. Staff worked about 12 hours per day, seven days per week.
- Disease investigator staffing levels rose from about three pre-pandemic to as many as 85 throughout the course of the year.
- The Health District’s Community and Clinical Health Services staff conducted over 69,000 COVID-19 tests, starting March 6, 2020. The team has been responsible for more than 50,000 COVID-19 vaccines administered, in addition to massive amounts of data entry, paperwork and other duties as assigned.
- Staff from Environmental Health Services (EHS) were pulled for COVID-19 response early on in the pandemic and were critical to COVID-19 testing at both at the Livestock Events Center, and in the community. Staff shifted work to handle large hotel inspections, per Senate Bill 4 from the Nevada Legislature special session. EHS staff completed 16 inspections on large hotels – with some inspections taking as long 35 hours to complete – to ensure large hotels were COVID-19 compliant for guest safety.
- Air Quality Management Division (AQMD) and EHS staff helped rescue Princess Cruise Line passengers that were on a ship where a COVID-19 outbreak occurred and safely returned them to their homes. AQM managed the planning branch of the COVID-19 response, and supported COVID-19 testing, contact tracing, scheduling, call center and other inventory and logistics during the early phases of the response.
- The Health District Medical Reserve Program managed 511 volunteers for COVID-19 response, which include medical and non-medical personnel, vaccinators, evaluators, recovery lot staff and traffic control. This includes the State of Nevada Board of Pharmacy, UNR School of Community Health Sciences, Immunize Nevada, Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) as well as federal agencies.
Read more about This Is Reno’s COVID-19 coverage over the past year at https://thisisreno.com/?s=coronavirus
Source: Washoe County Health District
