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More groups begin to be vaccine eligible

Due to an increase in the amount of new COVID-19 cases, El Dorado County on Tuesday remained in the red tier of the state’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy. While staying put wasn’t expected, officials said the county still could potentially move tiers this upcoming week.

“The state did not allow for a county to move from red to orange by meeting two of the three metrics like it did for moving from purple to red,” said Carla Hass, director of communications and outreach for the county.

On March 4, California introduced a vaccine equity metric that factors in on tier assignments to ensure that hardest hit communities are getting vaccinated. When the vaccine equity metric threshold is reached, the Blueprint for a Safer Economy will be updated to allow for somewhat higher case rates in each tier.



“If the state reaches the four million mark in terms of vaccinating those in the lowest health equity quartile, we will be able to move,” Hass said. “Some are anticipating that will come as early as this week.”

If the county doesn’t move tiers this week, the next opportunity to would be Tuesday, April 6.



On Monday, the counties adjusted case rate was 4.8, which bumped into the metric for the red tier. As of Wednesday, the adjusted case rate went down to 3.9, the positivity rate moved to 2.5% and the health equity quartile positivity rate is 3.2%.

In California, three counties remain in the purple (widespread) tier, 36 in the red (substantial) tier, 17 in the orange (moderate) tier and two are in the yellow (minimal) tier.

El Dorado County remains in the red tier which means indoor dining is allowed at 25% capacity, gyms are allowed to operate at 10% capacity, and retailers are open at 50% capacity.

As of Wednesday, the county reported only one new case due to the county “cleaning up” cases that originally thought to be from this county.

There was one additional death reported this week marking 107 total deaths in El Dorado County. The death was from the Greater Placerville region and was from earlier this year in January.

As of Wednesday there is one patient in intensive care.

The county has been allocated 64,049 doses of vaccine from the state as of March 18. Beginning Thursday, April 1 individuals ages 50-64 years old will be eligible for COVID-19 vaccines and starting April 15 every Californian age 16 and older will become eligible for COVID-19 vaccines.

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 about the vaccine or phases, visit edcgov.us.

There are a total of 58,090 Californians who have died from the virus since the beginning of the pandemic.

The state has a test positivity rate dropped to 1.9%. Over 3.5 million Californians have tested positive for the virus since the beginning of the pandemic.

NEVADA

Washoe County

Washoe County continues to have a 14-day moving average of about 43 new cases per day. On Wednesday, the county reported 57 new cases and no deaths.

There have been 660 Washoe County residents succumb to the virus. The county’s test positivity rate is 5.3% this week which is still just above the CDC’s recommendation for reopening.

Currently, 62% of staffed hospital beds are currently occupied which is up 4% from last week.

About 46% of all ICU beds are in use which is also up about 5% from last week. There are 13 individuals in the ICU as of Thursday and 29 hospitalizations.

On March 30, Washoe County reached out to the community seeking help from volunteers and paid temporary staff in the effort to vaccinate the community.

The COVID-19 Vaccine Point of Dispensing at the Reno-Sparks Livestock Events Center runs six days a week and they are in need of people who can administer vaccines along with volunteers who can help with assisting vaccinators, traffic flow and providing other duties to help residents.

The Washoe County Medical Reserve Corps program is also looking for vaccinators that include nurses, emergency medical technicians, paramedics, veterinarians, dentists, doctors and medical assistants. For more information, visit WCHDvolunteers@washoecounty.us.

As of Wednesday, 80,163 county residents are completely vaccinated. Over 16% of the county’s population is now fully vaccinated.

Starting on April 5, every Nevadans aged 16 and older will be eligible to schedule vaccination appointments statewide.

English said that the county will continue to place an emphasis on seniors even with the opening of eligibility.

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

In Incline Village, 449 total cases have been reported and 32 remain active. Crystal Bay has no active cases.

Quad County

Douglas County reported two additional cases on Wednesday. There is one resident in the ICU and three COVID-19 hospitalizations.

The county has had 35 cumulative COVID-19 related deaths in the county which is up from two last week.

Carson City Health and Human Services is reporting the first case of the B.1.1.7 COVID-19 variant in the Quad-County Region, according to a news release.

The Nevada State Public Health Lab announced last weekend that they had confirmed the detection of the UK variant in a Carson City resident.

The individual had no travel history and no known exposures. Carson City Health and Human Services is conducting extensive contact tracing on the confirmed case to reduce the spread of the variant.

CCHHS is urging the public to stay diligent with COVID-19 prevention measures such as wearing a mask, practicing social distancing, avoiding large gatherings, staying home when sick, practicing proper hand hygiene, and getting vaccinated when eligible. For information on the B.1.1.7 and other COVID-19 variants, visit https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/transmission/variant.html.

In total 122 Carson City residents have succumbed to the virus, up from 3 last week.

Carson City has one patient in the ICU and there are nine COVID-19 hospitalizations.

There are a total of 5,256 Nevadans who have died from the virus since the beginning of the pandemic.

The state has 273 residents hospitalized with 79 in the ICU.

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