Clark County hospitalizations
The number of COVID-19 infections is again spiking in Nevada but the problem is primarily confined to the Las Vegas area.
Deputy Nevada health and Human services Director Candice McDaniel said Thursday hospitalizations in Clark County have doubled in the past month with the test positivity rate shooting up to 9.2 percent.
As of Thursday, there were 422 people hospitalized in Nevada, up from 180 on May 1.
By comparison, she said, the positivity rates in Carson City and Washoe County are just 5.8 and 4.5 percent respectively and there has been no increase in hospitalizations.
Statewide positivity rate is 8.2 percent with an average daily count of new cases at 369.
More than 2.5 million vaccinations have been performed in Nevada so far.
A total of 337,259 cases of the virus have been reported in the state and 5,707 deaths.
McDaniel said it’s no surprise most of the increase is coming from Clark County because of increased travel, population density and heat forcing people indoors along with more and more social events and lax behavior by many visitors to Las Vegas.
She said it’s no coincidence that Washoe and Carson also have the highest percentages of vaccinated people. Carson is at 56 percent completed vaccinations.
Statewide, McDaniel said 53.8 percent of Nevadans have initiated the vaccination process and 45.6 percent have gotten both doses.
But in Clark County, just 44 percent have completed vaccinations.
Michelle White, chief of staff to Gov. Steve Sisolak, and McDaniel said the south will get some help within a week or so as the Federal Emergency Management Agency arrives to set up as many as 60 pop-up vaccination sites in the Las Vegas Valley bringing what White described as “boots on the ground” to the battle. White said FEMA will work to break down barriers to access for people who want the vaccine.
She said people also need to know that the shots are free and, no proof of is required.
Dr. Ellie Graeden of Talus Analysis said vaccination is the key to beating the pandemic and that means both shots of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. She said one shot of Pfizer, for example, provides 34 percent protection while the second dose raises that protection to 80 percent. She said Moderna is very similar.
Graeden also said the Prizer and Moderna vaccines are also proving very effective at all variants or mutations of the COVID virus including the delta variant that now accounts for more than half of U.S. infections.
She said the existing vaccines are “very effective against the delta variant.”
White said the Thursday briefings will continue until the numbers improve again.
