Nevada COVID-19 task force flags Lyon County for having elevated risk, Humboldt now off list

The COVID-19 Mitigation and Management Task Force met Thursday with seven counties flagged last week for having an elevated risk of transmission of the coronavirus. Based on data provided by the Department of Health and Human Services, six of the seven counties are still meeting at least two of the three criteria, signaling a sustained elevated risk of transmission.

The COVID-19 Mitigation and Management Task Force is chaired by Nevada COVID-19 Response Director Caleb Cage and was created via Directive 030, met with seven counties flagged last week for having an elevated risk of transmission of COVID-19.

Based on this week’s data, Humboldt County is no longer meeting two of the three criteria. Since this is the first week Humboldt has dropped off the list, county and State officials will continue to monitor the county’s data to ensure this is a sustained trend in the right direction, according to a Nevada Health Response news release.

This week marks the second week in a row that Churchill County is showing an elevated risk of transmission. This week, Churchill County submitted an assessment and action plan to State officials.

Based on the latest data, Lyon County has now been flagged for having an elevated risk of transmission of COVID-19. This week, state officials will work with Lyon County to develop an assessment and action plan to implement if the county continues to show an elevated risk of transmission next week.

At this time, there are no business-related closures in Lyon County associated with the elevated risk designation.

Lyon County Manager Jeff Page said the county team will prepare a mitigation plan in the coming days, working with Carson City Health and Human Services and other state and local health officials on how to address the issue. He noted the cut-off rate is 7.0 with Lyon County reaching a 7.4.

The spike appears to have generated from transmission cases among families, at workplaces and possibly a softball tournament that was held in Yerington the weekend of August 14, which brought 22 teams from around the state as participants, said Page.

"Between now and next Wednesday, we will prepare a mitigation plan on how to address the issue," Page said, adding that mitigation plans will include more testing as part of the Quad-County COVID response, run through Carson City Health and Human Services.

"We will follow a plan to do what needs to be done," said Page.

A total of seven Nevada counties are now showing an elevated risk.

Based on Directive 030, the COVID-19 Mitigation and Management Task Force is authorized by the Governor to review and then modify or accept the plans proposed by counties. All plans, and planned implementation dates, will not be considered finalized until action to approve is taken by the Task Force.

The following is a detailed summary of the information presented and actions taken by the Task Force during the public meeting on Thursday, August 26 for each of the counties that presented action plans.

This week, action plans were presented by Churchill County and Elko County. Last week, the Task Force voted to approve Elko County’s request to consider an action plan this week to provide the county more time.

CHURCHILL COUNTY
Assessment Summary:
— Churchill maintains a low testing number, however due to a high case rate and high positivity, it still met two of the assessment criteria.

— Churchill County has maintained its initial surged hospital capacity implemented at the start of the pandemic and reports no patients hospitalized with COVID-19.

Approved Action Plan:
— Churchill’s approved action plan includes focusing on education, community testing, rapid contact tracing response and compliance with State directives.
— State officials agreed to meet with Churchill to further discuss reporting challenges raised by county officials.

ELKO COUNTY
Assessment Summary:
— The bulk of Elko County’s cases are primarily in the populated areas of the City of Elko, Spring Creek, the City of West Wendover, and the City of Carlin. Since August 1, Elko County has reported 278 new cases and 272 recoveries and is currently reporting 86 active cases.

— In the last week, Elko’s positivity rate climbed from 14.8 percent to 16.8 percent, saw a slight uptick in case rate and decrease on the tests per day measures.

Approved Action Plan:
— Given the continued and sustained elevated risk of transmission, the Task Force approved an action plan for Elko that continues current restrictions for bars, pubs, taverns, breweries, distilleries, and wineries for another two weeks.
— State officials will continue to work with Elko on enforcement and mitigation plans moving forward.
Counties that had approved action plans last week presented updates to the Task Force this week, but no additional action was taken as results from mitigation measures would not be reflected in data yet. Those counties include:

WASHOE COUNTY
Summary of updates:
— As of August 26, 2020, Washoe County met 2 of the 3 elevated disease transmission criteria, with another increase in test positivity rate over the last week.

— Washoe County reported that the majority of its cases are associated with workplaces, retail, recreation and dining, and private social gatherings.

— The State committed to assisting Washoe in reviewing the mitigation efforts of municipalities within the county in an effort to increase engagement.

• Last week, the Task Force approved an action plan that continues the current restrictions for bar, pubs, taverns, breweries, distilleries and wineries.

CLARK COUNTY
Summary of updates:
— Clark continues to maintain high test positivity (13%), however it has experienced a decrease for the last two weeks in a row.

— Clark County announced a partnership with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the state of Nevada to administer up to 60,000 additional drive-through coronavirus tests over 14 days at three separate locations throughout the Las Vegas Valley at no cost to individuals receiving tests. The additional testing will run from August 31 through September 18.

— Clark County continues to enhance robust community response efforts.

— Last week, the Task Force approved an action plan that continues the current restrictions for bar, pubs, taverns, breweries, distilleries and wineries.

HUMBOLDT COUNTY
Summary of updates:
— This week, Humboldt County dropped off of the list, but the Task Force will continue to receive ongoing updates from Humboldt County to ensure county data trends are sustained.

— Per the request of the Task Force last week, the county has been successful in engaging the Ft. McDermitt Tribal Reservation Tribal Health Officer to keep case numbers updated. At the time of this update, no other lines of communication or resource requests have been made between government agencies.

NYE COUNTY
Summary of updates:
— Since August 19, 2020, Nye County has seen an increase of 25 positive COVID-19 cases with one new death. Of those, 23 reside in Pahrump, one in Round Mountain and one in Amargosa.

— Through contact tracing, the County has identified two primary epicenters of problem exposure over this past week: large, multi- generational families residing in the same household and law enforcement personnel with spread to their families.

— Last week, the Task Force approved allowing bars to reopen in the areas of the county outside of Pahrump, including an enforcement mechanism to allow county officials to reclose the bars outside of Pahrump if cases increase.

LANDER COUNTY
Summary of updates:
— Lander maintains a low case rate, however due to its low testing numbers and small population, it still hit two of the assessment criteria.

— In the last week, Lander County has identified a total of 3 new COVID- 19 cases, and is still lacking a demand to perform a significant number of COVID-19 testing per day.

— Lander’s approved action plan from last week includes community- based testing events beginning on August 31, messaging efforts, and ongoing contact tracing.

All counties — regardless of risk level — must maintain the statewide baseline mitigation measures, including wearing face coverings, limits on gathering sizes and capacity in businesses.

More information about the task force can be found online on the Nevada Health Response page at nvhealthresponse.nv.gov, under “News and Information” and “COVID Task Force Assessment.”