Nevada Health Response provided an update on county risk levels as posted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Right now, vaccinated individuals in Eureka, Storey and White Pine counties do not have to wear masks in public indoor settings based on current CDC information.
If these counties remain listed as substantial or high risk of transmission for an additional week, masks will be required in indoor public settings in these counties for all individuals regardless of vaccination status.
As of today, all Nevada counties are listed as high risk of transmission. Cases continue to increase rapidly across the state with the current Omicron surge.
According to Directive 045, all counties except for Eureka, Storey and White Pine, regardless of vaccination status, will be required to wear masks in indoor settings again.
To be able to lessen mask restrictions, counties need to remain at low or moderate transmission, as defined by the CDC, for two weeks in a row. Low transmission is defined as having less than 10 new cases per 100,000 persons in the past 7 days and less than 5% of tests resulting in positive cases in the past 7 days. Moderate is between 10 and 49.99 new cases per 100,000 in the past 7 days and between 5 and 7.99% of tests resulting in positive cases in the past 7 days.
The CDC recommended that everyone, including fully vaccinated individuals, wear a mask in public indoor settings in counties with substantial or high transmission. In line with Emergency Directive 045 (signed and effective May 3, 2021), the State of Nevada is automatically adopting the latest CDC guidance related to masks as a statewide requirement.
Please note that some school districts and local governments have implemented mask requirements that may be more restrictive than those set forth in Directives 047 and 048.
(Nevada Health Response assisted in this report.)
