COVID-19 Press Bulletin for September 30, 2021

Carson City, NV — Today, DuAne Young, Policy Director for Governor Sisolak, Candice McDaniel, Deputy Director of Programs for the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services and Dr. Ellie Graeden of Talus Analytics provided information on Nevada’s ongoing COVID-19 response and vaccination efforts during a call with members of the media.
This bulletin provides facts, figures, and informational items from the call. As a reminder, data is provided in a dashboard on the home page of the Nevada Health Response website.
As a reminder, moving forward, the COVID-19 media call will be held every other week. The next call will take place on October 14 at 1 p.m. at the same Zoom link as before. Press questions can continued to be directed to pressroom@nvhealthresponse.nv.gov in between calls.
PFIZER RECOMMENDATION:
  • The State continues to encourage those who are eligible, but have not yet been vaccinated, to find a location and get their first shot.
  • Those who were vaccinated more than 6 months ago with Pfizer and have been recommended for a booster dose can now get another dose.
  • CDC recommends the Pfizer booster for:
    • people 65 years and older and residents in long-term care settings
    • people aged 50 to 64 with certain underlying medical conditions
  • And, some groups may receive the booster, based on their individual benefits and risks. These groups include:
    • people 18 to 49 who are at high risk for severe COVID-19 due to certain underlying medical conditions
    • people aged 18-64 years who are at increased risk for COVID-19 exposure and transmission because of occupation or institution.
  • For the occupation groups that fit in this category, DHHS is following the State-specific playbook originally released at the beginning of the year that outlines members of the workforce who are eligible for the booster.
  • At this time, the recommendation is for Pfizer vaccine only.
  • There are plenty of doses of vaccine available in the state and encourage Nevadans to get their primary series, or if they fit into the categories discussed, make a plan to receive the booster.
  • The booster dose is different from the recommended third dose for those who are moderately to severely immunocompromised and should have three doses as part of the vaccination series.
 
RAIDERS:
  • The first regular season Raiders game at Allegiant Stadium was an opportunity for many Nevadans and visitors to get their vaccine and increase their protection against COVID-19.
  • The second home game was this past Sunday and more than 300 people received their first dose at Allegiant Stadium in preparation for the game.
  • The State is proud of the initiative taken by the Raiders organization to require vaccination at their home games.
  • The State will continue to work with more conventions and organizations that are interested in this policy. 
 
DASHBOARDS:
  • Throughout the State’s COVID-19 response many edits, and updates have been made to the Dashboards published by the DHHS Office of Analytics.
  • These edits have been made to maintain transparency and provide data and information to help our communities.
  • Today, the State provided an update progress counties have made in vaccination efforts.
  • Below is a list of initiated vaccination rates by county for Nevada residents 12 years of age and older:
1.          Washoe County – 70.12%
2.          Carson City – 70.01%
3.          Clark County – 65.65%
4.          Douglas County – 59.99%
5.          Lyon County – 56.79%
6.          Mineral County – 54.53%
7.          Churchill County – 49.97%
8.          White Pine County – 47.95%
9.          Humboldt County – 46.61%
10.      Nye County – 45.79%
11.      Esmeralda County – 39.92%
12.      Lander County – 39.22%
13.      Elko County – 38.30%
14.      Pershing County – 37.77%
15.      Lincoln County – 37.01%
16.      Eureka County – 30.72%
17.      Storey County – 20.50%
  • This data can be found on the dashboard.
  • Importantly, the 70% initial vaccine coverage goal was first identified based on what was understood and experienced in past influenza pandemics related to protective levels of herd immunity.
  • Clinical and epidemiologic data on COVID-19 is not yet available to tell the State what percentage of the population needs to be vaccinated against COVID-19 to reach a protective herd immunity level.
  • As a reminder, initiated vaccination represents the individuals who have one dose of vaccine – either J&J or the first dose of a two-dose series.
  • A vaccination is reported as complete on the Dashboard when the individual has completed the two-dose series, or the 1-dose vaccine.
  • The State encourages all Nevadans to return for their second shot, even if you are beyond the recommended window.
  • The State also continues to work with every county on access and education when it comes to the COVID-19 vaccine.
  • With some counties, DHHS is aware of discrepancies with the percentages the counties are reporting and what appears on the State dashboard.
  • DHHS is working with counties directly on these discrepancies and continue to use the state dashboard as the official source of state information.
 
K-12 DASHBOARD
  • Today, DHHS rolled out an updated K-12 COVID-19 Dashboard that includes information on COVID-19 cases in Nevada schools that can be searched by county or school and provides data on cases for staff and students who were present at school while they were infectious with COVID-19.
  • This information is determined through the disease investigation process.
  • Those who test positive for COVID-19 but did not attend school while infectious – as determined through the disease investigation process – are not included in this State Dashboard.
  • This data will be updated weekly and, as always, it changes frequently and may not match information from local schools and districts.
  • The State continues to collaborate with the districts on this process.
 
BUSINESS & INDUSTRY UPDATE:
  • President Biden announced that the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is developing a rule that will require all employers with 100 or more employees to ensure their workforce is fully vaccinated or require any workers who remain unvaccinated to produce a negative test result on at least a weekly basis before coming to work.
  • OSHA will issue an Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) to implement this requirement.
  • This will require employers with 100 or more employees to provide paid time off for the time it takes for workers to get vaccinated or to recover if they are under the weather post-vaccination.
  • Once the ETS is released, Nevada OSHA will have a timeframe to decide whether to adopt the standard identical to the Federal Program or an alternative that is at least as effective, which is required.
  • This requirement will impact more than 775,000 workers in Nevada workplaces with 100 or more employees, both public and private.
  • As the State waits for the formal rule, preparations are being put in place to help ensure a smooth rollout.
  • The State urges all eligible people to go get vaccinated as soon as possible.
STATE EMPLOYEE VACCINATION:
  • Nevada was a leader in this space and in July, announced that State employees would be required to be vaccinated, or tested for COVID-19 each week.
  • As of Sept. 29, 64% of State employees are fully vaccinated.
  • Those who are not fully vaccinated are required to test each week.
  • This is in line with the announcement from the Biden administration.
 
TALUS ANALYTICS UPDATE:
  • Nevada counties are currently experiencing diverging trends in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, with cases and hospitalizations falling in Southern and Northern Nevada and continuing to rise in rural Nevada.
  • Case rates in Southern Nevada declined from 727 per 100,000 to 616 per 100,000 over the past two weeks, but case rates in 11 other counties in Nevada are roughly double that with more than 1,000 cases per 100,000.
  • Hospitalizations decreased by 23% in Southern Nevada and by 16% in Northern Nevada over the past two weeks but increased by 15% in rural Nevada.
  • Given the primary strain of the virus circulating last spring, a targeted goal of 70% vaccination rates was established.
  • With the more contagious variants, that goal needs to be higher, though it is not known how much higher.
  • Hospitalizations are a good indicator of whether the threshold needed has been reached.
  • With hospitals still strained across the state, it is a good indicator that the State needs to continue working hard to increase vaccinations.
  • Overall, new COVID-19 cases have plateaued for Nevada and statewide COVID-related deaths decreased by 5% from September 6-20.
  • This is a significant difference from the 50% increase in deaths nationally.
  • Nevada’s new cases have plateaued, decreasing by 1% over the past two weeks compared to a 15% decrease nationally.
  • Nevada’s test positivity remains at approximately 11%, the same as the past two weeks.
  • Nevada administered 464 first doses per 100,000 last week, 16% lower than the week before and below the national average of 506 first doses per 100,000.
  • 64% of eligible Nevadans have been partially vaccinated, up 1 percentage point from two weeks ago but below the national average of 75%.
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