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Hospitals in Nevada are still not near their maximum capacity as the number of confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus grow, though Southern Nevada hospitals appear to be experiencing the most strain so far, according to a Nevada Hospital Association report shared with government officials...The data...shows that Southern Nevada hospitals have a higher percentage of occupied beds, occupied ICU beds and ventilators in use than their counterparts in northern and rural Nevada. In Southern Nevada, 65 percent of hospital beds are occupied, 79 percent of ICU beds are occupied and 56 percent of ventilators are in use, compared to 57 percent occupied beds, 43 percent occupied ICU beds and 30 percent of ventilators in use in Washoe County...READ MORE

Gov. Steve Sisolak said that while a testing kit shortage makes it impossible to tell how much coronavirus has affected Nevada, the pace of the virus’ spread around the world means Nevada must “act quickly” to slow it — including taking drastic measures such as shutting state offices, limiting the size of gatherings and encouraging employees to work from home if possible...the governor asked local governments to enforce a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guideline that all events with attendance above 50 be canceled or postponed for the next eight weeks...READ MORE

Leapfrog’s highest “A” rated hospitals for 2019 has remained unchanged from last year. These are Henderson Hospital, Mountainview Hospital, Northern Nevada Medical Center, Renown South Meadows Medical Center, and St. Mary's Regional Medical Center of Reno.

The Leapfrog Group hospital grading system is based on Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services data collection and represents a single metric that evaluates a hospital’s overall safety performance. The nonprofit is dedicated to transparency and has created the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade as a quality standard for comparing health care institutions.

The “B” team consists of North Vista Hospital, Valley Hospital Medical Center, St. Rose Dominican Hospitals - Siena Campus, St. Rose Dominican Hospitals - San Martin Campus, and Renown Regional Medical Center.

The good news is two of these hospitals have shown a marked safety improvement by moving up from a “C” rating to a “B” rating; these are: Valley Hospital Medical Center, and Renown Regional Medical Center.

These hospitals are to be applauded for consistently maintaining high standards and striving to improve patient care.

The bad news is the University Medical Center of Southern Nevada continues to struggle with its’ “D” rating.

By Chase

12.30.2019

Reno is getting its first new full-service hospital in more than a century as Northern Nevada Health System officially broke ground Friday for its new medical center...The Northern Nevada Sierra Medical Center will be built in south Reno, boasting 350,000 square feet of hospital and medical office space as well as 200 private patient rooms...The medical center adds another key piece to Northern Nevada Health System’s portfolio. The company just invested $11.8 million to expand the Northern Nevada Medical Center in Sparks. It is also opening a new ER facility on North McCarran Boulevard in 2020...READ MORE

Gov. Steve Sisolak has signed an emergency measure to safeguard the threatened supply of two drugs being hoarded for possible use in the treatment of COVID-19...The governor signed the emergency regulation Tuesday on the recommendation of the state Board of Pharmacy...The drugs, chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, are used to treat malaria, lupus and rheumatoid arthritis and are being studied by the Food and Drug Administration for possible use in patients with mild-to-moderate COVID-19...The governor’s order prohibits the prescribing and dispensing chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine for a COVID-19 diagnosis, requires the appropriate prescription coding for their “legitimate medical purposes” and limits prescriptions to a 30-day supply...The order doesn’t limit use of the drugs in hospitals, only in outpatient settings where hoarding is evident, the governor’s office stressed. Doctors may continue to prescribe them to hospitalized COVID-19 patients at their discretion...READ MORE

Sisolak announced during a press conference in Las Vegas that he had signed the emergency declaration, which included activating a State Emergency Operation Center and emergency team to centralize response to the virus, loosening regulations for government agencies to purchase food and other supplies, creation of a website with centralized information and reinforced the attorney general’s office’s ability to enforce consumer protection laws...“At this time it has become clear that this extra step is necessary in order to meet the goal, to ensure that the public health and safety of our citizens and to ensure that we have the resources at our disposal to immediately and aggressively respond,” Sisolak said...READ MORE

They were good sons with promising futures who died of drug overdoses less than two months before they were set to graduate from the University of Nevada, Reno...UNR seniors Jordan Watts and Ben Taylor died just 15 days apart in March 2019 from drugs laced with a fatal dose of fentanyl...Their mothers...say their sons were recreational users who bought a couple of pills, unaware they were tainted with the deadly opioid...The dealers pleaded guilty to drug and firearm charges that carry as much as 20 years in prison and fines of $10,000: Alec Donovan...Tyler Winters...Lucas Cueller...at least eight UNR students have died of drug overdoses in Washoe County since 2017...READ MORE

The World Health Organization officially declared COVID-19 a pandemic last week, with more than 120,000 cases around the world. As new coronavirus cases spread around the globe, questions surrounding this new virus grow exponentially as well...We asked Dr. Brian Labus of the UNLV School of Public Health questions about what you should know about the virus and how you should prepare for it...READ MORE

• Where do coronaviruses come from and how do they spread?
• Can the coronavirus spread through animal products imported overseas?
• Should I be worried about my pets contracting the virus?
• Who is most vulnerable to the virus?
• Should I avoid the Strip or other heavily populated areas in Las Vegas?
• Why do health experts advise people not to stock up on masks?
• Who is qualified to get tested?
• Why are we so limited in our capacity to test for the virus?
• Do you think we’ll see cases slow down as the weather warms up?
• Should I cancel my vacation plans?
• If I am flying, how can I protect myself from getting infected?
• How likely is it that a city like Las Vegas could go into lockdown?
• How prepared do you think Clark County is to handle a pandemic?
• How does the response to COVID-19 compare with other past global pandemics, such as H1N1 in 2009?
• Do you think social media has played a role in how most of the public has responded to the illness?
• What lessons can we use from global pandemics that have happened in history?
• What else can I do to protect myself?
• Should I still get my flu shot?
• Is there any estimate on when this will all be over?
• Do you think U.S. response (i.e. canceling travel, public sporting events) is appropriate? Is it over the top or should we be doing more?
• Do we know how long the virus can live on a surface?
• Is there anything you think is missing from the overall public discourse on COVID-19 you'd like to note?

Dozens of major conferences, concerts, gatherings or other events have now been limited, postponed or outright canceled in the wake of mounting fears of the spread of the novel coronavirus...READ MORE

Three members of the state’s dental occupational licensing board, plus two top staff members, have resigned from the board amid a scathing audit and sharp criticism from Gov. Steve Sisolak...Sisolak announced...during a meeting of the Executive Branch Audit Committee that three members of the board had resigned immediately, and that he had opted not to reappoint three board members whose terms ended in October...The board’s executive director and general counsel have also opted to resign their positions and will leave the board on December 5...Sisolak referenced “salacious and false accusations” made in an anonymous letter sent by dental board staff to a Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter yesterday suggesting unethical connections between Sisolak, his chief of staff and the Nevada Dental Association, a critic of the dental board...READ MORE