With Nevada's COVID-19 numbers climbing, Lyon County asks residents to put aside politics and follow health guidelines
Submitted by Jeff Munson on Thu, 11/19/2020 - 4:41pm
In the past several weeks Lyon County, City of Fernley and the City of Yerington have been flagged for elevated transmissions of COVID-19. Each Thursday at 10:00 AM we meet with the Nevada COVID Task Force to discuss our assessment and action plan.
Lyon County and both cities have worked closely with the State and the State regulatory agencies to ensure that businesses and employers are informed and implement the CDC recommendations and Nevada Emergency Directives. Our local businesses and employers have done a phenomenal job in these difficult times.
Early on our number of residents being tested on a daily basis was low but that this greatly improved over the past several weeks.
These numbers are neither bad or good but are an indication that COVID 19 is not going away. We seem to have forgotten that COVID-19 is a Public Health issue and is having a significant impact on our regional hospitals and health care providers.
The chart above provides information as to the status of our hospitals statewide. As of November 17, 2020 81% of Nevada's staffed hospital beds were occupied and 62% of Nevada's Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds were occupied.
Lyon County residents occupy hospital beds in Reno, Carson, Fallon, Yerington and Minden. When those beds are unavailable then our EMS personnel have longer waits at hospitals, surgeries get delayed, people wait longer in ER waiting rooms, health care providers get sick and reduce staffing.
The entire purpose behind the CDC recommendations and Nevada Emergency Directives is to keep our health care system from reaching or over exceeding capacity.
Lyon County is asking all to take the politics out of the public health issue and help our healthcare providers by following simple suggestions.
— If you are sick stay home
— Social distance and avoid close contact
— Wear a mask/face covering
— Wash your hands often
— Cover mouth and nose when coughing or sneezing
— Avoid large gatherings
This pandemic will not last forever. The more we help by following basic health principles the sooner we can normalize.
The mentioned charts were taken from https://nvhealthresponse.nv.gov/covid-task-force-assessments/ Lyon County's Assessments and Action Plans and CCHHS Reports can be found at: https://www.lyon-county.org/807/Emergency-Public-Information
