Governor Steve Sisolak announced Thursday that Nevada would reimplement restrictions on bars and restaurants in certain counties to prevent further spread of coronavirus due to what he called a “spike” in cases.
The directive is the second time Nevada has tightened restrictions since the state started reopening in early June, allowing businesses including bars, restaurants, casinos and hotels to accept customers.
Bars that serve food can still offer curbside delivery, but patrons cannot go up to the bar and sit.
Gov. Sisolak said restaurants cannot seat parties larger than six and outdoor dining will be encouraged.
Counties that meet two of the three criteria are considered an “Elevated Disease Transmission” county, and will be subject to the restrictions as laid out by Gov. Sisolak last night, and included in the attached Directive.
The three criteria measures:
• Average Number of Tests per Day: this is the average number of cases resulted during the previous week in a county, divided by the number of people living in the county. This number is then multiplied by 100,000 to control for varying populations in counties. Counties that average fewer than 150 tests per day will meet this elevated disease transmission risk criteria.
• Case Rate: this is the total number of cases diagnosed as positive and reported over a two-week period divided by the number of people living in the county. This number is then multiplied by 100,000 to control for varying populations in counties. Counties with a case rate higher than 100 will meet this elevated disease transmission risk criteria.
• Test Positivity: this is the total number of cases diagnosed as positive averaged over a 7-day period, with a 7-day lag, divided by the number of people living in the county. Counties that have a case rate higher than 25 and a test positivity rate higher than 7 percent will meet this elevated disease transmission risk criteria. Counties that currently meet at least two of the measures include:
• Clark County (Criteria two and three)
• Elko County (Criteria two and three)
• Humboldt County (Criteria one and three)
• Lander County (Criteria two and three)
• Lyon (Criteria one and three)
• Nye County (Criteria one, two, and three)
• Washoe County (Criteria two and three) County level data prepared by DHHS and current as of July 9 is included with this release. The data will be updated on a regular basis to help track the progress.
Counties will be re-evaluated no earlier than two weeks and must show positive trends out of two of the three risk criteria to be allowed to reopen. In addition to reducing their elevated disease transmission risk, counties must also submit a reopening plan that includes mitigation initiatives and compliance plans to the Department of Health and Human Services for approval to reopen. The first seven counties will be reevaluated on Friday, July 24.
Additional counties who are deemed an Elevated Transmission Risk County may be added to this list based on the criteria at any time, and will be reevaluated on their own two week schedule.
He also said that swimming pools and gyms will require masks unless someone is engaged in high intensity activity.
Gov. Sisolak said that 79% of businesses were found to be compliant with his face covering directive.
The number of confirmed cases rose throughout the month, prompting the governor to announce a statewide mask mandate on June 24.
Nevada has reported 24,904 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 571 deaths since the onset of the pandemic.
Gov. Sisolak also mentioned the Nevada Legislative Special Session and the task to balance the state's budget, and the reemphasized the importance of social distancing measures.
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(Office of Governor Steve Sisolak, Associated Press contributed to this report.)
