County receives COVID-19 breakdown from CCHHS
Robert Perea, The Fernley Reporter
Lyon County saw a 35-percent increase in COVID-19 cases in the two-week period between Aug. 2-15 over the previous two-week period, with most of those having had contact with a previously known case, according to information provided to the Lyon County Commission at its Aug. 20 meeting.
The Commission, which also serves as the County Board of Health received a briefing from Carson City Health and Human Services representative Jeanne Freeman on the status of COVID -19 in Lyon County and the Quad County region.
In its latest updates, Lyon County had three new cases Thursday and nine Friday, with four recoveries over those two days, bringing the county’s total to 293 cases, 232 recoveries and six deaths. In the Quad-County region as a whole there were 20 cases and 18 recoveries reported Thursday and Friday.
But Thursday’s report to the County Commission was focused on the two-week period from Aug. 2-15.
Over that period, Lyon County had 65 confirmed cases. Of those, 42 came in the five-day period from Aug. 5-9 and 23 of them were on two days, 11 on Aug. 5 and 12 on Aug. 7.
The 65 confirmed cases in that two-week period was a 35-percent increase from the previous 14-day period.
Gender distribution of cases in Lyon was approximately even with 33 females and 32 males. The average age of these cases was 42 years old, slightly older than the quad-county average age of 40. Forty-nine percent of the Lyon cases were Non-Hispanic or Latino, and sixty-six percent identified as “white.” Three of the new Lyon County cases were hospitalized during this two-week period. Most of the Lyon County cases in that two-week period were from Dayton (40 percent), Fernley (34 percent), and Yerington (14 percent). Mound House, Silver Springs, and Stagecoach only had two or three cases each. Across all cases in Lyon county, 15 percent reported being healthcare workers.
Freeman said the most common exposures for Lyon County cases were travel to another state, restaurants and bars, retail and grocery stores, and contact with a known Covid-19 case.
Among cases, 56 percent had previous contact with a known COVID-19 case, typically through work or their household. Across all cases, 52 percent had been to a retail or grocery store in the 14 days prior to testing positive, a rate higher than anywhere else in the Quad-County Area. Also among cases, approximately 27 percent had traveled to another state within 14 days of testing. The most common state of travel among county cases was California. Six percent of all Lyon County cases reported attending church, a rate higher than anywhere else in the Quad-County Area. Other exposures included dining inside a restaurant or bar (11 percent), and attending a community-event, mass gathering, or social event (8 percent), and visiting or residing in a skilled nursing facility (5 percent).
Commissioner Bob Hastings questioned the process for state employees that are mandated to be tested and how those numbers are reported. Freeman said those numbers are reported to the State Health and are to be counted in the Lyon County tests. CCHHS does not receive those results.
Commissioner Jay Dini expressed dissatisfaction with the length of time over test results coming in. Freeman answered that the average for the State lab is 5-7 days. She added that many of the reported delays are coming from the private labs.
Up-to-date information on COVID -19 is available at https://gethealthycarsoncity.org/novel-coronavirus-2019/
