‘Can’t put a value on human life’: Sisolak mulls options in managing virus spread

By John Sadler

Thursday, July 9, 2020 | 12:25 a.m.

CARSON CITY — Gov. Steve Sisolak said all options are being considered for managing the COVID-19 spread, including rolling back some of the looser restrictions of the phased reopening of the economy if hospital capacity is overwhelmed by patient surges. There's been a gradual increase in the percentage of positive infection results statewide, which sits at 7.5%.

The resort corridor was closed for nearly 80 days beginning in mid-March to limit the spread of the virus, contributing to Nevada’s economic crisis of a $1.2 billion budget deficit. Lawmakers started to consider a proposal to address the deficit Wednesday during the opening of a special session of the Nevada Legislature.

“The biggest thing I’m concerned about is the hospital capacity,” Sisolak told the Sun during an interview outside of the Capitol building. “I look at these numbers every day. When I get up this is my first briefing of dozens of briefings I get all day long. I see that number, and when it’s going up 30, 40, 50 people a day … our system can only hold so many.”

There are 607 confirmed cases of Nevadans hospitalized for coronavirus as of Tuesday. Of those, 223 are in the ICU and 109 are on ventilators, according to the Nevada Hospital Association. The percentage of ICU beds occupied in Nevada is 78% and the percentage of ventilators in use is 36%.

Juggling concerns about the economy with the need to protect the health of Nevadans is a tough balancing act, Sisolak said. 

“You can’t put a value on human life,” he said. “If people would follow the directives we set forth, and the guidelines, I’m confident that we can get a handle on this better and quicker.” 

One of those guidelines is a mandate for residents to wear masks in public, which has received resistance from some who say it’s a violation of their rights despite medical experts saying coverings help prevent the virus from spreading. Sisolak said the refusal of President Donald Trump to wear a mask could have something to do with it.

“President Trump just refuses to wear a mask, even though his administration does, his doctors do,” he said. “He’s refusing to wear one and some of his staunchest supporters (say) ‘if he isn’t going to do it, I’m not going to do it.’”

No legislative decisions made Wednesday

Richard Whitley, director of the Department of Health and Human Services, told lawmakers that a proposal to cut $233 million from the department’s $1.5 billion budget would have a negative impact on residents seeking medical care. The cuts would result in many reductions, including to Medicaid services.

The current proposal has calls for aging and disability services to lose $30.2 million in funding, child and family services to lose $9.4 million, public and behavioral health to lose $19.1 million, and welfare services to lose $15.7 million.

Health care financing would be cut by $140.4 million. That includes money for prosthetic devices, podiatry, bariatric surgery, such as gastric bypass procedures, and biofeedback therapy.

Nearly 700,000 Nevadans are on Medicaid, and the proposal would cut heavily into some of the so‐called optional benefits offered by state Medicaid. Optional benefits are those a state decides to add on to its Medicaid coverage.

The difference between mandatory and optional benefits, Whitley said, is only relevant to Medicaid decision-makers, not those who need health care. Calling benefits optional, he said, is almost “embarrassing.”

“I can’t quantify (the potential effect) today,” Whitely said. “I just know that I have limited places to go to make the deductions in our general fund spending.”

Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro, D‐Las Vegas, said considering to cut optional benefits was difficult because “optional hospice care doesn’t sound optional to me.” 

In the Assembly, lawmakers discussed cuts to education of $160 million for K‐12 education and $190 million from the Nevada System of Higher Education. No legislative decisions were made Wednesday.

In a news conference after both chambers adjourned, Cannizzaro and Assembly Speaker Jason Frierson, D‐Las Vegas, reiterated their need for the federal government to bring help to states. Cannizzaro called the budget shortfall a small amount compared to federal expenses.

“We think about the state of Nevada, $1 billion is something that would literally change the conversation in terms of what we’re talking about taking from the budget,” Cannizzaro said.

She said that they are “very hopeful’ that Congress would take up a measure to extend direct aid to the states. The current debate in Congress is centered on an omnibus bill — the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (HEROES) Act — passed by the House of Representatives but not yet taken up by the U.S. Senate. The act would send direct federal aid to the states.

“I remain hopeful that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will consider the HEROES Act. I know that that would be something that would change fundamentally the lives of all Nevadans affected by the pandemic,” Cannizzaro said. “It’s something that would be doable, I think, at the federal level, and would be life-changing for all Nevadans.”

State employees upset at proposed furloughs

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 4041, which represents state workers in Nevada, has been critical of Sisolak’s proposal to furlough state workers for one day a month and freeze merit-pay increases, a move that would save the state an estimated $120 million.

At the core of the union’s argument is that Sisolak made the proposal without bargaining with workers. The union filed an unfair labor practice complaint in June.

The governor met with union leaders on Monday and Tuesday, but no agreement was made, union officials said.

“We came in with our sleeves rolled up. We presented solutions that would generate savings for the state and also ideas to increase revenue,” said Harry Schiffman, the president of AFSCME Local 4041, in a statement. “We took our responsibility to negotiate with the administration seriously. Unfortunately, they met with us only after cuts to state workers were already in place.”

Sisolak wasn’t happy that the union decided to go public with its complaints. The initial plan called for laying off 500 to 600 workers, which his office trimmed to a “couple dozen,” he said. 

“We did whatever we could to help (the union),” Sisolak said. “I thought I had a good relationship with them. I’m disappointed in the avenue that they’ve chosen to go down.”

Outside, demonstrators protest education cuts

Lining Carson Street outside of the Nevada Legislature, demonstrators lofted picket signs in the air. As a passersby honked their horn in solidarity, a protester with a megaphone led chants: “Kids need teachers, kids need books, schools need the money Carson took.”

Lilith Baran, a music and theater teacher at Sierra Nevada Academy Charter School in Reno, said Nevada invests disproportionately in police at the expense of education, which she thinks contributes to the “school‐to‐prison pipeline.”

“I think our budgetary priorities are completely backwards,” Baran said.

That includes a proposal being considered by lawmakers to cut $156 million in K-12 education. The move would take funds allocated to reimburse teachers for out-of-pocket supplies or to programs designed to help reduce class sizes.

“Our kids don’t have pencils, my kids don’t have instruments, and we’re just buying cop cars,” Baran said.

Alexander Marks, a spokesperson for the Nevada State Education Association, said funding now includes needs brought on by the pandemic such as personal protective equipment for teachers and cleaning supplies to sanitize campuses.

“We need the resources to make sure that we can not only educate our kids, but keep our classrooms safe and our communities healthy, and school budget cuts are going to compromise that effort,” Marks said.