Carson Tahoe Hospital ICU is 95 percent full, statistics show
Submitted by Kelsey Penrose on Thu, 10/29/2020 - 1:43pm
UPDATE AND CLARIFICATION: The Carson City and the Quad-County region is currently experiencing a large spike of COVID-19 cases, most likely due to the lifting of many lock down restrictions, people not social distancing, wearing masks or those who are participating close together without face coverings in large gatherings.
This week, there was also a spike in hospitalizations from COVID-19, according to Nevada Health Response, which tracks cases in the Silver State.
In Carson City, as of Thursday morning, there are 15 people at Carson Tahoe Hospital with COVID, which is the largest amount to date. The ICU has an occupancy of 16 beds available, in which other patients, as well as COVID patients, are cared for.
Nevada Health Response figures earlier Thursday were not precisely correct. While the ICU is at 95 percent capacity, 25 percent of the patients are being treated for COVID.
Carson Tahoe spokeswomen Erin Meyering noted that census statistics can change daily and even hourly at the hospital.
In May, the last COVID spike had 12 people in the ICU from COVID-19, but since then, numbers have stayed relatively low, until now.
Washoe County is also experiencing a spike, and the high of this week had 51 residents in the ICU specifically dealing with COVID-19, with 12 on ventilators.
Over the last two weeks, there has been a 10.1 percent test positivity rate, measured from an average of 6,900 tests being performed.
However, there has not been a large increase in testing; in fact, the height of testing occurred in late July with an average of 10,800 tests being performed. Statewide, a total of 798,250 people have been tested as of Oct. 26.
Surprisingly enough, the test positivity rates have often been higher in rural counties than Clark and Washoe since July. The counties of Nye, Elko, Storey and Humbolt have had high rates of test positivity during the testing period. Storey County currently has the highest rate of test positivity recorded at 20 percent, which occurred on Sept. 7. Nye County is right behind at 19.8 percent, recorded on July 27, and Humbolt County at 19 percent, on Aug. 6.
For the Quad Counties, Carson City currently has a test positivity rate of 8.1 percent as of Oct. 26, a significant increase from the 1.8 percent recorded on Oct. 5.
Douglas County is currently listed at 6.9 percent, Storey County has receded to 3.3 percent, and Lyon is also hovering at 8.2 percent, slightly lower from the 11.4 percent recorded on Oct. 19.
In Carson City, there have been a total of 27,731 tests completed, with 768 total cases, and 8 deaths.
In Douglas County, there have been 8,936 tests completed, with 417 confirmed cases, and 1 death.
In Lyon County, There have been 8,420 tests completed, with 613 confirmed cases, and 13 deaths.
In Storey County, there have been 211 tests completed, with 24 confirmed cases and no deaths.
In neighboring Washoe County, there have been 175,984 tests completed, with 13,090 confirmed cases, and 196 deaths.
Demographically, Nevadans between the ages of 20 and 29 are contracting COVID-19 the most, with 20,089 total cases, followed by the age group of 30-39 with 17,919. The lowest age group are those under the age of ten, with only 3,642 total cases.
Currently, the Hispanic population of Nevadans is contracting COVID-19 at higher rates, with 44 percent of the cases, followed by the white population at 30 percent. Nevada is 73.9 percent white, and Hispanics make up 29.9 percent of the overall population.
All statistical information for this article came from Nevada Health Response, which can be viewed here: https://nvhealthresponse.nv.gov/
