Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

As pandemic rages, Sisolak faces dilemma if Nevadans don’t stay home

Sisolak Discusses COVID-19 Numbers

Benjamin Hager/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Pool

Gov. Steve Sisolak discusses Nevadas recent COVID-19 figures during a press conference at the Grant Sawyer State Office Building on Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2020, in Las Vegas.

The message is the same, but the tone is more urgent. The consequences aren’t explicitly stated, but it’s implied.

Gov. Steve Sisolak is watching the coronavirus spike in Nevada, where he is again asking people to stay at home — even though the weekend is here and many will be tempted to carry on with plans. 

He knows hard shutdowns best control the spread of COVID-19 but are also economically devastating to a state already navigating through $1 billion in debt and with historic jobless numbers. The turning point is here and the tightrope is taut.

“For the next two weeks, we must mimic our stay-at-home behaviors from this past spring,” he said Tuesday when he announcing a “stay-at-home 2.0” campaign, three days before announcing his own positive test result. “If we do so, we believe we can begin to turn around things in two weeks without having to place increased restrictions on our businesses or our schools. We don’t want to do that. I do not want to do that. We have a chance to avoid that from happening if we all help and we all pitch in.”

UNLV epidemiologist Brian Labus, a member of Sisolak’s medical advisory team, said two weeks probably isn’t quite enough time to bear fruit of a shutdown — three would be better. But he said Sisolak is on a steep hill.

“Simply asking people to change their behavior doesn’t work very well,” Labus said. “Some people just don’t want to listen to him because he’s the governor, some people don’t want to be told what to do at all. There’s a million reasons why they’re not going to listen to him. He’s fighting human nature, he’s fighting people that are sick and tired of dealing with COVID. It’s not like he created it but he has to deal with it.”

Labus said the governor’s decision-making philosophy is not different from earlier in the pandemic this spring. He gets virus data and consults with advisers before making a decision. Lately, the advisers aren’t telling Sisolak that things are getting better.

But restrictions aren’t for advisers like Labus to ultimately make. He said the next logical step for Sisolak, if trends don’t improve, would be to roll back the most recent reopenings, like the return of bars and greater capacity in restaurants and at gatherings. In New York, for instance, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has imposed curfews on restaurants and gyms, and limited gathering sizes.

“If numbers keep climbing and people don’t do anything to stop transmission he doesn’t have a lot of options,” Labus said.

Kyra Morgan, the chief biostatistician for Nevada Department of Health and Human Services, said this week that Nevada is averaging 969 new known cases of the coronavirus a day. A week ago, the rolling two-week average was 679 cases a day.

Steadily, five Nevadans a day have died of the virus over the last two weeks. Morgan said she expects that number to grow.

The “scary part” is in the last few days. On Nov. 5, Nevada had more than 1,600 new diagnoses, a record.

“The takeaway here is that we have officially surpassed our previous worst point in the pandemic,” Morgan said at Thursday’s meeting of the state COVID-19 task force.

Dr. Fermin Leguen, acting chief health officer for the Southern Nevada Health District, said the health district “supports local jurisdictions’ increased enforcement of the directives to keep businesses open, keep their staff members healthy and their clients and customers safe. These efforts will help Nevada’s health care system manage both COVID-19 cases as well as influenza cases.”

Mason Van Houweling, chief executive of University Medical Center, said Las Vegas-area hospitals haven’t activated their surge plans but Reno-area counterparts have.

As of Thursday, the most recent data available, Southern Nevada hospital beds were 85% occupied by all causes; 708, or 18%, of all hospital patients were confirmed or suspected COVID-19 cases. In local intensive care units, 29% of patients were confirmed or suspected to have COVID-19. About 10% of available ventilators were in use on known or suspected COVID-19 patients.

“We know the positivity rates, the growth in positivity rates, directly reflect to the emergency departments, the ICUs and ultimately deaths,” Van Houweling said. “We need all Nevadans to take the advice and stay at home best as you can.”

Sisolak stressed the need to stay in, telecommute where possible, wear masks and physically distance when people do go out, wash their hands, avoid gatherings, even small ones. 

Tourists should still visit and fuel the economy, but they also need to follow prudent protocols.

The governor called on churches, colleges, airports and local governments to tighten up controls. The government can only adopt and enforce restrictions in public spaces and businesses, but what people do at home is almost more important, he added.

People can take steps to reduce spread without shuttering swaths of the economy; it’s on residents, and he believes in them, Sisolak said.

“I’m not asking for the world. Fourteen days is what I’m asking for. Please.”

Sound familiar? It should.

Oct. 20

State/Clark County

Cumulative cases: 91,000*/78,963 

Hospitalizations: 425/327

Positivity rates: 9%/8.6%

*approximate

“We can’t get tired because the virus isn’t tired. You need to do your part.” — Sisolak

• • •

Though open, Nevada is far from normal, and an autumn resurgence of COVID-19 is becoming apparent. So is “COVID fatigue,” when complacency replaces vigilance. Adherence to strict mask-wearing and social and physical distancing are fraying and fading, like the strips of duct tape laid down six feet apart in grocery store checkout lines in March.

“COVID wasn’t supposed to last this long,” Sisolak said at an Oct. 20 press conference. 

The governor reported an “alarming” upward trend in cases and hospitalizations statewide. As of that day, Nevada had seen about 91,000 cumulative known cases of COVID-19, and 425 patients were hospitalized with the coronavirus. 

Sisolak reminded residents that they are not helpless and they can change the trajectory of the virus if they follow public health recommendations — wash hands, wear masks, keep distanced — to protect the health care infrastructure and the bruised economy. He said he doesn’t want to bring back restrictions.

“The most important tool in fighting this pandemic is you, Nevadans — your behavior, our behavior,” he said. “It’s our willingness to mask up, to socially distance, to make sacrifices. That’s how we get through this.”

Oct. 28

State/Clark County

Cumulative cases: 97,479/83,591 

Hospitalizations: 492/374

Positivity rates: 9.8%/9.2%

“The public needs to understand that if we don’t step up together and follow all public health measures, hard decisions and tradeoffs lie ahead.” — Sisolak

• • •

In the eight days since Sisolak’s last press conference, cases statewide climbed by about 6,000. Hospitalizations increased by 15%. 

“We don’t mean to scare everyone with the data trends we’re presenting, but we have an obligation to have an honest conversation with Nevadans about where we are and what will happen if we don’t take this seriously,” he said on Oct. 28.

He didn’t say what that might be, but did say that Nevada can’t afford another shutdown.

The March-June shutdown forced the Legislature to cut the state budget by more than 25%, and Sisolak said he will do everything he can to avoid shutting down again. 

Caleb Cage, the state’s COVID-19 response director who contracted the virus himself in October, said coronavirus cases made up about 10% of all hospital patients.

“We don’t want to end up like other states across the nation who are on the brink of implementing crisis standards of care measures,” like rationed resources and gurneys in hallways, he said.

Sisolak said to wear masks, socially distance, avoid crowds, wash hands, get tested.

“It’s up to us to determine the direction that we’re going to go in,” he said.

Nov. 10

State/Clark County

Cumulative cases: 112,304/90,885 

Hospitalizations: 796/579

Positivity rates: 13.8%/11.1%

“The fall spike predicted by all medical and scientific experts is now our reality. Nevadans need to accept and understand this reality now and change behaviors immediately.” — Sisolak

• • •

There isn’t much time to pivot now. Sisolak gives the state two weeks to make a “significant reversal” in trends.

Positivity rates have increased by 25% since his last appeal less than two weeks prior. Hospitalizations have increased sharply led by a surge in Northern Nevada, where this week Renown Regional Medical Center in Reno started placing COVID-19 patients in an overflow ward in its parking garage.

“We’re unable to keep pace with the virus in the way it’s currently presenting itself in our community,” said Renown Health president and chief executive Dr. Tony Slonim, whose father died of COVID-19 in April. “You can help us.”

Sisolak acknowledged that he’s asked Nevadans to buckle down many times this fall as cases keep climbing. He intimated that this will be his final request, and though he didn’t say what the consequences will be, he said, “I’m not bluffing. I’m not playing a game. We are in a very crucial point right now.” 

“We’ve got two weeks. That’s it. I’m not going to come back in two weeks and say I’m going to give you another chance.”