Nevada Appeal Capitol Bureau
Friday, April 23, 2021
Nevada’s virus positivity rate actually went down a tenth this week.
After spending most of the past week at 5.9 percent, Task Force Director Caleb Cage said the rate fell to 5.8 percent by Friday.
While that’s a tiny difference, it’s a good sign that recent increases in daily cases and other rising numbers may be plateauing.
At the same time, he said the 14-day average number of daily cases is at 270.
Karissa Loper, who manages the state’s vaccination program, said more than 1.76 million doses of the vaccines have been injected into the arms of Nevadans. She said 43.5 percent of those 16 and older have received at least one shot and 29.6 percent have completed vaccination.
But there are two counties including Carson City with double-digit positivity rates. Carson is at 10.9 percent of those tested and Lincoln is at 10.4 percent.
Carson City, Elko, Lincoln and Lyon counties are all flagged for elevated risk of transmission.
Late in the day, the New York Times reported that a Centers for Disease Control is recommending states restart the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine that has been paused more than a week because of a tiny number of serious side effects — blood clots — reported. Just 15 such cases were reported among the 7 million people vaccinated nationwide.
