First COVID-19 vaccine shipments arriving in Nevada

The first shipments of the coronavirus vaccine are arriving in Nevada. The Southern Nevada Health District received a batch Monday morning.

But experts say even though there are some signs that the surge is beginning to slow, now is not the time for people to let down their guard.

Task Force Director Caleb Cage said the state isn’t yet seeing the full impact of Thanksgiving gatherings on the infection rate. He said the 14-day positivity rate is declining a bit — in Northern Nevada. But he said that is being partially offset by an increase in the rate down south.

He and Deputy Health Division Administrator Julia Peek said everyone still needs to be very cautious and not start thinking they can ignore restrictions and requirements like wearing masks, avoiding crowds, socially distancing and sanitizing hands.

Cage said that the positivity rate, while down a bit over the past week, is still, “extremely high” and every county is flagged for high risk of potential transmission except Storey and Eureka.

“I’m not expecting to see any immediate effect on the current surge in the state of Nevada,” he said.

Both said it will be some time before the impact of the vaccine is seen in the numbers, especially because only critical health care workers are getting the first doses. The vaccine won’t be available generally for a couple of months.

“Because of the limited number of people who can get it, Nevadans really need to not consider the vaccine the silver bullet today,” said Peek. “I think we just need people not to get a level of comfort.”

As of Monday morning, Nevada had reported 189,412 infections and a positivity rate of 21.3 percent.

The Nevada Hospital Association says there are 2,025 hospitalizations, 1,804 confirmed coronavirus infections and 1,804 suspected.