The Omicron variant is surging through Nevada, making up almost all of the new cases. The variant usually affects the upper respiratory system more than the lower. That makes it less-severe and more contagious.
"It's able to cause infections in people that have been vaccinated or previously infected to a greater degree than any of the previous variants we've seen," Dr. Nancy Diao, Division Director of Epidemiology and Public Health Preparedness for the Washoe County Health District said.
Washoe County has had 84,877 positive COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began. More people who have been vaccinated are also catching the virus. Washoe County has recorded 9,640 breakthrough cases. That is 3.71 percent of the vaccinated population.
Lynda Mellows is a Reno resident who caught the virus after visiting family in Montana for Christmas. She still has symptoms, 16 days after the infection. She got vaccinated in April.
"It kicked my butt, I'm gonna be really honest with you," Mellows said. "The second night, it just hit me like a ton of bricks. I was really chilled, major sore throat, congestion."
Her husband got vaccinated in November and is also fighting the disease after more than two weeks. Mellows says the infection is in his chest. She is concerned because he spend more than a month in the hospital, last year for a cardiac issue.
"We're living and walking a miracle in our family, right now, so I'm a little bit on edge when it comes to him, watching him pretty closely just because of what we went through," Mellows said.
Health experts say breakthrough infections are more common with the Omicron variant but that it does usually keep cases mild and helps avoid hospitalizations and death. Mellows has her doubts about how effective the vaccines are, after what her family has dealt with. Especially, when it comes to Omicron.
"Everybody in my family lives on a different echelon with being vaccinated late, being vaccinated early, and ones that don't believe in vaccination," Mellows said. "We all got it."
She says there is a lot of frustration because of misinformation and changing information from agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and some media outlets.
"With so many things changing for the last two years and what we've been told, it's hard to believe anybody anymore," Mellows said.
Meanwhile, cases continue to rise in Washoe County, with 14,424 active cases. That is roughly 2.96 percent of the population. Washoe County is reporting 455 new cases but that number could be deceiving because people had fewer options for testing on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. The lower number also comes one day after the county had a record number of 1,447 new daily cases. Its seven-day average is 1,006.
Other areas of the world are seeing a decline in cases.
"Looking from New York's data, looking from South African data, it seems like once you do hit your peak, it lasts about a week-and-a-half to two weeks and then you start to decline," Diao said.
Washoe County's case load is still rising sharply, so it is not clear if we have reached the top of the wave yet.
"I'm not sure if we've reached our peak, yet," Diao said. "We've been repeatedly hitting a new record number every few days. We just did another number over the weekend."
Statewide, new daily cases are lower, dropping from an average of 5,263 on January 15 to 4,442 on January 17. Clark County is seeing the largest drop in cases. On January 10, southern Nevada had an average of 4,487 new daily cases. That is down to 1,038 but that does not mean the surge is going away.
"Some places do have data where they had a decline and they went up a little bit extra and then it went down again, so it does vary a little from place to place," Diao said.
Diao says the number of cases and how long the surge lasts depends on a lot of different factors, so the outcome could vary.
"Once we reach our peak, it becomes a question whether we would follow the same pattern as other jurisdictions, as other places around the world just because our demographic make-up and our community make-up might be a little different than other places," Diao said.
She says South Africa has a high number of people who have been infected with previous variants, while Washoe County has a higher number of vaccinated people at 63 percent. Other factors include mask-wearing and social distancing.
