Nevada is experiencing a fast-moving wave of COVID-19. The Nevada State Public Health Laboratory says about 3/4 of its positive samples are the Omicron variant. Wastewater samples show more than 90 percent of COVID in Washoe County is Omicron. Nevada is reporting 4,4743 new cases in one day while Washoe County broke a record with 1,012 new cases in one day.
"It's actually quite a lot because the rate of new cases is really fast," Dr. Mark Pandori, Director of the Nevada State Public Health Laboratory said. "It's really coming on stronger than we've seen before. This Omicron actually is not just an incremental change from Delta. It's really a leap and I think the rate of new infections skyrocketing like it is is from that mass amount of change that we've see in this virus."
Data shows that the variant spreads about three times faster than Delta. The explosion in cases is happening after the holidays when many people gathered in groups.
"We're about a week out of New Year's and it's exactly when you would expect something to occur from a bunch of get-togethers on New Year's Eve," Pandori said.
NSPHL tests specimens and sequences a small percentage of the positive samples. As more cases come in, so does the workload.
"The amount of specimens coming to the lab to be tested is going up quite a lot but the rate of positivity of those tests that's coming in is also going up quite dramatically," Pandori said.
Nevada's 14-day positivity rate is 23.5 percent. Washoe County's is 13.9, which is the highest since October.
"The people are actually infected out there," Pandori said. "It's not a lot of asymptomatic people or worried well. It's people that are truly infected that are getting tested."
Other areas of the United States started detecting Omicron before Nevada, so it is likely that the Silver State's peak will happen later than those states. It is just a matter of when the cases begin to drop.
"We've seen this in the past," Pandori said. "We had surges, last holidays in the previous year and we've seen them associated with summer and the 4th of July, and it always does come down afterwards."
Omicron is much different than Delta. Early indications are that it is much more contagious but not as severe as Delta. Historically, a virus will adapt to humans to become a more efficient virus. Pandori says that is what appears to be happening with COVID.
"That's really what the virus wants to achieve," Pandori said. "It wants to be everywhere it can be. Hurting someone actually harms its ability to do that."
He says despite Omicron's ability to evade the vaccine in some cases, getting the shot is still the best defense against COVID-19.
"It may not prevent infection but it's preventing the really, really poor outcomes that can occur with infections," Pandori said.Â
Pandori says mask-wearing and social distancing are still other ways to avoid exposure to the virus. It is up to each individual how they want to respond.
"People are getting tired of sequestering, so there's still going to be parties and there's still going to be gatherings," Pandori said. "We just have to ask ourselves, is that the best possible situation? Is that the safest situation?"
