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Time is running out on a bid by prosecutors and Nevada prison officials to carry out the first execution in the state in almost 16 years, with hearings unfinished in federal court in Las Vegas and decisions pending before the state Supreme Court...One of several drugs that would be used for convicted mass killer Zane Michael Floyd’s lethal injection is due to expire Feb. 28, and because state law calls for two weeks’ notice to schedule an execution...READ MORE

With Nevada hospitals reporting a staffing “crisis” and health officials reporting COVID-19 patient tallies at pandemic highs, Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak highlighted a program...to enlist nursing students to help meet the demand for medical providers...“The state continues to work with all of our partners to leverage existing resources and break down barriers so Nevadans in need can access care,” the governor...said on a day that health officials reported what Dr. John Hess, a University of Nevada School of Medicine associate faculty member, called a “challenging time” with case counts “incredibly high right now.”...READ MORE

The first pill authorized in the U.S. for treating COVID-19 at home will initially be offered in Nevada primarily to patients in long-term care and skilled nursing facilities because of scarce supplies...The remainder, less than 10 percent of the state’s initial allotment of Pfizer’s antiviral medication Paxlovid, has been given to University Medical Center in Las Vegas and to Renown Regional Medical Center in Reno, members of the Nevada State Board of Pharmacy said...The drug’s authorization is “hands down, next to the vaccine, the most significant milestone in the pandemic,” said Dr. Shadaba Asad, the medical director of infectious disease at UMC...Supplies of the Pfizer pill currently are extremely limited across the country. Nevada’s initial supplies are enough to treat 480 patients, with allocations expected to grow as production ramps up, pharmacy board executive secretary David Wuest said...READMORE

Nevada health officials have confirmed the state’s second confirmed case of the coronavirus caused by the highly transmissible omicron variant, this time in a rural county...The second case was found in Churchill County in northern Nevada and involved an unvaccinated woman in her mid-40s, according to the Nevada State Public Health Laboratory...READ MORE

Two physicians enlisted to oversee what would be Nevada’s first execution since 2006 don’t ever want to be identified publicly, state officials told a federal judge...Prison officials want to use a never-before-tried combination of three or four drugs to execute Zane Michael Floyd by lethal injection, including the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl and the anesthetic ketamine...The 46-year-old Floyd, who was was convicted in 2000 of killing four people and wounding a fifth in a 1999 shotgun attack at a Las Vegas grocery store, does not want to die and has several cases that could delay or stop his execution pending in court...His attorneys have asked U.S. District Judge Richard Boulware II to require the state to provide information about the professional qualifications of any doctors, emergency medical technicians and intravenous injection administrators involved in the execution...READ MORE

Hospitals throughout Nevada are facing twin challenges as beds fill with COVID-19 patients and staff falls ill from the highly contagious omicron variant...“Nevada is experiencing an abrupt increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations, predominantly in the southern region following the holidays. People are flocking to hospital emergency departments seeking COVID-19 testing, compounding the staffing problem,” they said, describing the second week of January...“Hospitals are not over-run by a COVID-19 surge as much as being understaffed as employees in all fields report being sick and unable to work. This is also further compounded by a significant increase in people coming to the emergency department solely for testing. Hospitals are not testing sites,” the Nevada Hospital Association said...READ MORE

State corrections officials told a federal judge last week that they’re quickly running out time before a crucial lethal injection drug proposed for use in the execution of death row inmate Zane Floyd will expire...Nevada Department of Corrections Director Charles Daniels said in federal court that his chief concern with carrying out the execution is that the necessary drugs would expire before the state could proceed with its execution plan.His testimony followed days of hearings last week, during which medical experts called by the state made the case that the state’s proposed drug cocktail, never before used in carrying out a death sentence, would result in a painless death for Floyd...“My understanding is that it would be less painful than other methods,” said Daniel Buffington, a clinical pharmacologist who works at the University of South Florida. “It would reduce the individual's anxiety… It would be quick.”...
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