Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak speaks during a COVID-19 update press conference Monday, Aug. 3, 2020
Published Monday, Aug. 3, 2020 | 6:20 p.m.
Updated Monday, Aug. 3, 2020 | 9:15 p.m.
CARSON CITY — Nevada will work with counties individually to assess COVID-19 data on the average of number of daily tests, case rate and test positivity rate in a new plan to manage the virus spread, Gov. Steve Sisolak announced Monday.
If a county is determined to be at increased risk based on the data, the state and county will review the data to determine the cause and further restrictions.
Those restrictions could include increased enforcement of current mandates, a decrease in allowed gathering sizes, a decrease in capacity for certain businesses and more, Sisolak said.
“We have learned a lot day by day about how best to analyze this data and tackle this disease,” Sisolak said. “We are laying out a long-term strategy for mitigating the spread of COVID-19 in Nevada through a targeted approach — all centered back to our original goal of making our response state-managed and locally executed.”
Sisolak, who joined Nevada's COVID-19 Response Director Caleb Cage at a news conference Monday night, said the stay-at-home order and business closures at the start of the pandemic worked to slow the spread.
“However, shutting down public and economic activity throughout the state is not sustainable in the long term,” Sisolak said, adding that the new targeted approach aims to protect Nevadans and minimize the state's economic impact.
Nevada is forming a new task force of state agency officials who will meet every Thursday to evaluate the state's 17 counties on how they are faring on new reported cases of COVID-19, rates of positive tests and tests per day.
If counties that do not meet at least two of the criteria for at least two weeks in a row, then the task force will work with county officials to come up with a response plan for the following week.
The response plans could vary depending on what information officials have about where the spread is occurring but the plans could include increased enforcement, stricter limits on gathering sizes or reduced capacity in particular businesses.
“We can protect the health and safety of Nevadans by mitigating the spread of the disease at the root of where it is occurring, all while keeping our economy open and avoiding hurting the businesses that are doing their part to help us,” Sisolak said.
If there’s not enough data to do a targeted approach or the county is not cooperating, the state and governor could impose broader restrictions, he said.
When asked if he would ever broadly shut down all the state’s casinos again, as he did in March, the governor said all options are open but casinos have been responsible and are not a major source of virus spread right now.
“If we identify that that is a major problem that that’s where the infections are coming from, we would obviously have to take appropriate action. But what we do first is see: Is it the casino? Or is it the pools at the casino? Is it the restaurants at the casinos? Is it the gaming tables at the casino? Is it the common areas of the casinos?" he said, describing the scalpel-like response that he's aiming for with the new approach.
He said biggest problem Nevada officials have found with trying to stop the spread are two areas that are hard to control: family gatherings or people going to work when they’re sick or have tested positive.
“If Nevadans begin to relax their efforts and take this less seriously, this targeted approach will not work and will lead our state backward, which could ultimately lead once again to broad-based closures and limitations,” Sisolak said. “I don’t want that, and neither do all of you.”
Sisolak's new approach comes as state officials said Monday that they're encouraged by a slowing of the growth rate in new COVID-19 cases statewide since the end of June.
Health officials on Monday reported 994 new coronavirus cases and 15 new deaths. That brings the total number of confirmed cases to 51,199 with 847 known deaths since the pandemic began.
The number of infections is thought to be far higher because many people have not been tested, and studies suggest people can be infected with the virus without feeling sick.
The cumulative test positively rate statewide is now 10.6%.
Nevada has 1,152 COVID-19 patients in hospitals as of Aug. 2, with a statewide hospital occupancy rate of 76%, including 66% of ICU rooms. About 45% of ventilators statewide are in use.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
