Maria Guizar receives a COVID test from contact tracer Valerie Herzog at the Southern Nevada Health District Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2022.
Tuesday, July 9, 2024 | 2 a.m.
It’s in the air, and now in the water. Samples from Southern Nevada’s wastewater have shown an increase of the COVID-19 virus in areas of the valley, indicating a possible summer surge of the illness that has spread across the country.
“It seems like the numbers are trending up nationwide; they’re not at the levels we typically see in the winter months, but we have seen an increase in Nevada and throughout the country,” said Brian Labus, an epidemiologist and assistant professor at UNLV.
“It’s really difficult to predict how these things are gonna play out because they depend on a lot of factors that we have a lot of trouble quantifying, like the number of people who are sick, the level of immunity and things like that, so it makes it very difficult to predict what’s going to happen. There’s no easy way to say ‘This is what the next few weeks are going to look like for COVID,’ ” Labus said.
As of May 27, the last available data, there were 3.46 viral counts of COVID in Clark County wastewater, according to the NV Empower Program, which was created in 2020 as a partnership between UNLV, the Desert Research Institute, Southern Nevada Health District and Southern Nevada Water Authority to monitor levels of COVID in the region’s wastewater.
Wastewater monitoring “can provide early awareness of potential outbreaks” but cannot directly measure the number of people currently infected with the virus, it says on the program’s website.
The number is an increase since the last wave in winter, which last produced a high of 4.7 viral counts in Clark County wastewater during early February, according to the data. In Clark County, the JN.1 variant of COVID accounts for about 46% of all variants found in the wastewater, with KP.2 at roughly 44% and KP.1.1 at a little over 10%.
Those wastewater findings are lining up with a slight increase in COVID cases around Southern Nevada, the health district said. In the first quarter of 2024, it reported 2,992 cases of COVID and a positivity rate of 40.61 people per 100,000.
Previous years saw thousands more COVID-positive patients, and the health district said there was no pressing concern about the “slight increase in cases,” but it was still monitoring the situation.
JN.1, which has been tracked since December 2023 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is an offshoot of the BA.2.86 variant that was found last summer and presents no evidence of being any more dangerous to the public than other circulating variants. Its symptoms are also largely the same as typical COVID symptoms.
The CDC did note in December that it may be more transmissible or better at evading immune responses due to its quick growth in the United States.
As of January, JN.1 was “the most widely circulating variant” of COVID in the U.S. and globally, according to the CDC.
The SNHD recorded 367 positive cases of COVID in March — the last available publicly reported data — and a rate of 12 cases per day as of April 30. It’s hundreds of cases less than the previous year, when the district reported 2,197 cases in one month.
The health district also reported five COVID hospitalizations per day as of April 30, with a seven-day moving average of about 5 people, and zero deaths.
However, Labus believes the numbers could be lower because either the population has grown more immunity through repeated infections and vaccinations, or they’re not reporting as many cases due to the availability of testing methods such as home test kits.
“It’s always been a challenge to track COVID because the way we test has evolved every few months, so it’s difficult to know exactly how many people are infected, but we have a number of different things we can look at to get an idea of general trends,” Labus said.
In 2023, more than 916,300 people were hospitalized with COVID and over 75,500 people died, the CDC reported.
The CDC recently announced updated recommendations for vaccinations this fall and winter. Everyone 6 months and older — regardless of if they’ve been previously vaccinated — is encouraged to receive an updated 2024-25 COVID vaccine to protect against “the potentially serious outcomes” of the virus. Moderna, Novavax and Pfizer will have updated COVID vaccines later this year, and residents can visit a local pharmacy or health care provider to get their shot.
“Our top recommendation for protecting yourself and your loved ones from respiratory illness is to get vaccinated,” said Mandy Cohen, director of the CDC. “Make a plan now for you and your family to get both updated flu and COVID vaccines this fall, ahead of the respiratory virus season.”
This new vaccine “can restore and enhance protections against the virus variants currently responsible for most infections and hospitalizations in the United States,” as well as reduce “the chance of suffering the effects of long COVID, which can develop during or following acute infection and last for an extended duration,” the CDC said in a news release.
People who got a 2023-24 COVID vaccine had better protection against illness and hospitalizations than those who did not, according to the health agency.
The CDC is also recommending that people get the 2024-25 influenza vaccine in September and October, which is only one dose and will protect people against H1N1, H3N2 and B/Victoria-related flu strains.
People over 65 and immunocompromised individuals are more likely to get sick and suffer severe consequences from COVID, but the virus can affect everyone.
To protect yourself and others, the CDC encourages people to stay up to date on their COVID vaccines; practice good hygiene, including washing hands often with soap and water or using hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol; and stay home when sick. The CDC notes that additional levels of protection include wearing a well-fitting, high-quality mask or respirator like an N95 or KN95, and avoiding poorly ventilated or crowded indoor settings.
“A slight increase during the summer is not unusual when individuals are indoors and in close proximity,” a representative from the SNHD said in an email to the Sun. “Las Vegas has not experienced higher rates of COVID-19 infections than other similar metropolitan areas. However, any travel can increase the transmission of certain communicable diseases. Those at greater risk for severe disease should take precautions and consider getting vaccinated if not up to date on vaccines.”
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