COVID-19 is surging in Washoe County. The county has 9,567 active cases and its seven-day average is 742.3 new cases. That is 155 percent higher than the previous peak of 479.6 on November 20, 2020.
"I think at this point, almost everyone in our community knows someone who has COVID-19, right now, or has it themselves," Kevin Dick, Washoe County Health District Officer said.
The high number of cases is affecting the workforce, including in the medical community. REMSA Health is missing 30 employees because of the pandemic.
"Our team, specifically, this week has been put in a situation where nine percent of our team members are out because of COVID-19," Adam Heinz, Executive Director of Integrated Health Care for REMSA Health said. "What that means and what that equates to is when somebody calls in sick, that's an ambulance that's not available in our community."
The company is asking staff from other areas to fill in while it deals with the shortage of workers.
"We're pooling senior leadership, as well as some of our educators and some individuals that are some of our ancillary staff to be able to staff those units," Heinz said.
The pandemic is hitting REMSA at a time when it is already busy. It responded to 299 calls, Tuesday, which is a record for this month. It normally responds to 230-250 calls per day. Hospitals are experiencing staff shortages and an increase in hospitalizations is causing ambulance off-load delays.
"They too, experience shortages with illness as well as seeing more patients, reduced our availability for the next call," Heinz said.
Heinz is asking the public to help. He is asking them to avoid calling 911 if it is not a medical emergency.
"We respond on calls to remove people's rings, for people that have toe pain, as the health officer said, rashes," Heinz said.
Time will tell how long the latest surge of COVID-19 will last but Dick says the national trend does not look good for Nevada, since cases are lagging behind much of the country.
"It's very likely that we could see our cases increase and double from where we're at right now, if we follow that national trend," Dick said.
More than 2,000 Washoe County residents are getting tested, every day. Getting an appointment or going to one of the four free community sites can be challenging but Dick says people should be patient and get tested. If you are symptomatic, presume you have the virus because it is so prevalent in the community.
"Nearly all of the cases that we're experiencing now in our community are Omicron, and that's why we're seeing the dramatic, almost vertical increase in our case curve," Dick said.
Data shows that Omicron may be less severe than Delta but it transmits so much more easily. Dick says every person who has the disease in Washoe County is passing it to 1.6 others.
"We have a number of people that don't want to take it seriously and are comparing it to a cold and that's not what it is for the people that are suffocating to death in our ICUs," Dick said.
If you have COVID-19, you are encouraged to contact your doctor to see what steps you can take. People at high-risk could qualify for medications like Pfizer's new pill or monoclonal antibodies. However, those are in short supply throughout Nevada.
