Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Officials: Social distancing has helped limit the spread of COVID-19 in Las Vegas

Southern Nevada Health District Meeting

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UMC CEO Mason VanHouweling speaks during a Southern Nevada Health District COVID-19 update meeting, Thursday, April 9, 2020.

As University Medical Center staff prepares for an expected surge of COVID-19 patients over the next week, officials say social distancing guidelines have helped slow the spread of the infection in Southern Nevada.

The Southern Nevada Health District reported today that 314 COVID-19 patients have been admitted to Las Vegas area hospitals. Another 300 with coronavirus symptoms were also admitted. It could be worse.

“Anecdotally from what we’ve seen, the numbers could have been a lot worse if we didn’t implement a lot of the things that we’ve done here in the county, the state and the cities,” said UMC’s CEO, Mason VanHouweling.

The state is projected to reach its peak resource use April 17, when it will be short 33 intensive care unit beds, according to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. The model projects deaths per day will peak at 22 fatalities April 19.

Clark County, which has the majority of the state’s COVID-19 cases, has 80% occupancy of its roughly 609 ICU beds. The county has 681 ventilators, about half of which are in use.

Of UMC’s 106 ICU beds, 83 are occupied, which is slightly down from a few days ago, VanHouweling said. Of the 133 ventilators at UMC, 60 are in use as of this morning, with 32 being used by COVID-19 patients. That number is down 3-4% from where it was a few days ago.

To keep patients off ventilators, VanHouweling said the Las Vegas medical community has used prone ventilation, in which patients are turned on their stomach in a swimmer position to improve oxygenation.

Earlier this week, UMC set up a 22-bed medical surge tent outside the hospital, with many other hospitals across the valley doing the same, VanHouweling said. UMC is in “yellow status” as far as personal protection equipment, VanHouweling said, but could very quickly fall into “red status.”

It is estimated that 727 people in Clark County have recovered from COVID-19, around 36% of total patients, said Dr. Fermin Leguen, acting District Health Officer of the health district.

Leguen echoed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommendation on masks for the general public, saying that everyone in public should be wearing some form of face covering over the mouth and nose.

“Any kind of clothing can go on the face.” he said, presenting a homemade mask his wife made for him at Thursday’s press conference. “When wearing this type of clothing … we actually are protecting the public and preventing ourselves from spreading the coronavirus to other members of the community.”

Southern Nevada’s testing capacity is also improving, Leguen said. Gov. Steve Sisolak says the Nevada State Public Health Lab is reporting that Nevada is above the national average in tests per 100,000 residents, at 725. The average is 596, he said.

“Our lab capacity for testing grew to 5,000,” Leguen said. “Our daily capacity is at about 60 tests per day. We’re also partnering with our public health lab in the north in Reno and also the lab at UMC. They’ve helped us with the number of specimen processes in a single day.”

While a cure for COVID-19 likely won’t be available anytime soon, VanHouweling said hospitals are working diligently on how to treat the new illness. He anticipates a second wave of cases in the fall.

“Just like with the flu, we often don’t test for it, we just treat you for it,” he said.

Leguen, meanwhile, isn’t certain about a second wave.

“The answer to that question is almost impossible today because this is a new disease and there is no history on the behavior of this virus,” Leguen said.