Last Friday, March 5, El Dorado County received an allotment of 1,100 doses of the new Janssen (Johnson & Johnson), one-dose vaccine to which all have already been scheduled.

The county and partnering clinics have administered approximately 47,618 doses as of March 5. Remaining doses of the vaccine are earmarked for already-scheduled clinics and appointments. Currently, signups for the vaccine clinics in South Lake Tahoe are full, but the county hopes to have more mass vaccination clinics in the near future.

This past week El Dorado County saw a bump in cases on Tuesday with 17 new cases, however on Wednesday only four new cases were reported in the county with three of them in the Lake Tahoe region.

---

---

The county’s positivity rate continues to decline and is currently at 3% with an adjusted case rate of 4.8.

Unfortunately, there were two new deaths reported Wednesday, both in the Greater Placerville area. The county has suffered 103 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic. Currently, there are two hospitalizations with no COVID patients in intensive care.

---

---

The county is in the red tier of the state’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy which means indoor dining is allowed at 25% capacity, gyms can open at 10% capacity, retailers can open at 50% capacity, and movie theaters can reopen at 25% capacity, among other things.

For more information about what it means for the county to be in the red tier go online to covid19.ca.gov/safer-economy.

Health workers, residents 65 and older and those working in the education sector, childcare, emergency services or food and agriculture are eligible for the vaccine.

The county is estimating that in April to May, those in Tier 2 of Phase 1B will be eligible and those in Phase 2, moderate risk individuals will be eligible this summer.

To be notified when your phase is eligible and when an appointment is available, sign up for an alert at myturn.ca.gov.

For more information, visit edc.gov.us.

Alpine County moved to the yellow tier on Tuesday marking it as the only county in California to be in the state’s least restrictive tier. There have been no COVID-19 related deaths in the county and there is currently only one active case. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the county has had 85 cases.

There are a total of 54,891 Californians who have died from the virus since the beginning of the pandemic. The state has 3,477 COVID-19 positive patients hospitalized with 961 in the ICU. Over 3.5 million Californians have tested positive for the virus.

NEVADA

Washoe County

Along with the addition of the Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) vaccine, Washoe County has administered over 140,000 vaccines to residents that are 65 and older or are part of the essential workforce.

Over 11% of the population in Washoe County have been fully vaccinated which is up 2.5% from last week.

“While it [COVID-19 community transmission] has been declining since the peak we had at the end of November, we are now plateauing and leveling off from that decline,” said Washoe County District Health Officer Kevin Dick during Wednesday’s press conference. “It looks like we are continuing to move in the right direction.”

The county’s 7-day average of new cases is at 42 and continues to stay consistently in between 34-46 new cases per day.

The test positivity rate finally hit 5% on Wednesday which meets the World Health Organization’s threshold for reopening recommendations.

Based on the Governor’s Roadmap to Reopening, Washoe County businesses will see restrictions loosen on March 15. Restaurants, bars, gyms, etc. will be able to increase their capacity as public gatherings will be allowed to increase from 100 individuals or 35% to 250 individuals to 50% , whichever comes sooner.

“While case counts are down, there is still significant disease transmission in the community,” said Dick. “We need to learn from our experiences and our experiences have been that when we reopen, we are at risk at having sudden increases in the amount of cases occurring as people are interacting.”

Dick urges the community to be cautious and continue to follow all precautions.

The county health district is also working with local cities and jurisdictions to implement a plan for when the transition to local government authority is planned to take place in May.

In April, Dick says there will be communication from the county on what the plan will look like for residents.

On Wednesday, the county reported 47 new cases and two new deaths increasing the total number of residents who have succumbed to the virus to 651.

Currently, 69% of staffed hospital beds are occupied which is up 6% from last week. About 45% of all intensive care unit beds are in use which is also up 8% from last week. There are 11 individuals in the ICU.

In Incline Village, 421 total cases have been reported and 43 remain active. Crystal Bay has no active cases.

Quad County

Douglas County has no residents in the ICU and has had 33 cumulative COVID-19 related deaths in the county.

Carson City has had 116 individuals who have succumbed to the virus, which is up one from last week.

Carson City has no patients in the ICU and there are five COVID-19 hospitalizations.

There are a total of 5,080 Nevadans who have died from the virus since the beginning of the pandemic.

The state has 347 residents hospitalized with 83 in the ICU.