Vaccines for the coronavirus are available for all Carson City adults starting Monday, April 5.
Individuals aged 18 or older can be administered any of three available vaccines while individuals aged 16-17 can receive the vaccine manufactured by Pfizer Inc., Nicki Aaker, director, Carson City Health and Human Services told the Board of Supervisors on Thursday.
“We have four vaccination events next week and we still have appointments,” said Aaker. “Some events are not filling up.”
Vaccines are available now through the health department as well as some medical practices and Smith’s pharmacy, Walmart, CVS and Walgreens.
Aaker said the health department is seeing 10 percent no shows at events and asked the public to cancel unneeded appointments if they have multiple appointments scheduled or cannot attend one they had set up.
She said approximately 16 percent of the Carson City population is now fully vaccinated, meaning they have either received the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine or both doses of either the Moderna Inc. or Pfizer shots.
Aaker said Carson City recorded six cases of coronavirus daily on a seven-day rolling average during the last two weeks of March.
The city’s COVID-19 draft mitigation plan calls for opening churches, retail outlets and malls, restaurants, and recreation centers to 100 percent capacity May 1 as long as social distancing can be maintained. Initially, restaurants can seat six people at a table inside and 10 at an outside table. Indoor events, including sporting events, will be at 50 percent capacity.
Some other businesses, including casinos, hair salons and spas, and marijuana stores, have to comply with rules set by their state boards.
The plan has to be endorsed by the state hospital association and school district and then approved by the board at its April 15 meeting.
The supervisors spent much of the morning interviewing three candidates to replace Tad Fletcher, who retired in January as chief of the Department of Alternative Sentencing.
A large panel of judges and representative from the District Attorney’s Office and the Sheriff’s Office initially interviewed applicants and submitted three candidates — Meliah Gonzales, Timothy Guthrie and Marlina Stone — to the board to select.
The board voted 4-1 to choose Marlina Stone, who is currently Marshal Sergeant at the Municipal Court in Reno. Supervisor Stan Jones, who said he supported appointing Gonzales, voted no.
Mayor Lori Bagwell said that she gives internal candidates extra consideration but that sometimes an outside applicant is a better fit.
“External candidates can bring a fresh perspective,” said Bagwell. “I’m going to give a slight edge to Ms. Stone. She checked off all the boxes.”
Gonzales is bailiff for Carson City District Court and Guthrie is interim chief at DAS.
The board also allocated $124,480 in Community Support Services grants; a scrap metal recycling contract based on 52 percent of the material’s fair market value to Universal Service Recycling; and passed on second reading an ordinance making permanent the 1 percent transient lodging tax supporting the Carson City Arts and Cultural Master Plan and the development of a cultural tourism campaign.
