Here are your local news headlines for the morning of Friday, May 7, 2021.
Renown Health To Close Its Drive-Thru COVID-19 Vaccine Clinic
By Michelle Billman
Renown Health has announced that it will stop administering first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine next week at its drive-thru clinic in Reno. Wednesday will be the final day that people can visit the clinic for first doses. The clinic will continue operating until every person who received a first shot from the location has an opportunity to get their second one. The vaccine team at Renown has administered more than 73,000 doses.
Community members who are 16 and older can get the Pfizer vaccine at this location until Wednesday by making an appointment through MyChart. Walk-ins are allowed from noon to 2 p.m. PT. For questions, call 775-982-2781.
As a note of disclosure, Renown is a financial supporter of KUNR.
COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy Decreasing Among Republicans
By Robyn Vincent, Mountain West News Bureau
Republicans are more likely than other political groups to shy away from the vaccine, but a new Kaiser Family Foundation survey shows that hesitancy is decreasing. More than half of conservatives now say they’ve gotten at least one dose of the vaccine or plan to.
Ashley Kirzinger is with the Kaiser Family Foundation. She worked on the survey and said the overall increase in nationwide vaccine access is driving the change.
“What we know is one of the most powerful messages of people deciding to get vaccinated is seeing their friends or family members get vaccinated,” Kirzinger said.
The number of Republicans who said they wouldn’t get the COVID-19 vaccine decreased from 29% in March to 20% in April. Kirzinger said this is important for getting more people vaccinated and ending the pandemic.
Study: Residents Left Big Metros During Pandemic For Family
By The Associated Press
A new study and Census Bureau data show U.S. residents moved out of the nation's largest metropolitan areas and into smaller ones during the pandemic. The data released this week shows increased declines in the nation's densest metros and gains in small cities in the Sun Belt and West. The study found that many COVID-year migrants weren't driven by jobs, weather, or even virus fears. Instead, they were motivated by a desire to be closer to family and a new freedom to make it happen because of remote working. The data adds to understanding of how the pandemic has changed where and how Americans live.
US Judge Says He Might Block Nevada Setting Execution Date
By The Associated Press
A federal judge said Thursday he might block a bid by prosecutors to have a state judge set a date as early as next month for Nevada's first execution in 15 years. U.S. District Judge Richard Boulware told officials he’ll need time to determine if the as-yet-undisclosed drugs and lethal injection procedure that prison officials want to use to put convicted mass murderer Zane Floyd to death would be constitutional. The judge has scheduled another court session Monday. Floyd is fighting the death sentence he received in 2000 for killing four people with a shotgun and badly wounding a fifth in a Las Vegas supermarket in 1999.
Study: As Access To Contraceptives Goes Up, Teen Drop Out Rates Go Down
By Stephanie Serrano, Mountain West News Bureau
In some parts of the Mountain West, like Nevada, New Mexico and Wyoming, teen pregnancy rates are higher than average, according to the CDC. New research from the University of Colorado, Boulder finds that when access to contraceptives goes up, the percentage of girls who drop out of high school goes down.
The study looked at a federally funded program known as Title X. It helps provide low-income women with reproductive services. Amanda Jean Stevenson led the research and said across the Mountain West, Title X programs are severely underfunded.
“That means that Title X providers normally have to ration more expensive devices because they don’t have enough money to provide everyone with whatever method of contraception they want,” Stevenson said.
But in Colorado, a private foundation fully funded all Title X clinics. That means, in those clinics, women had access to the kind of birth control they wanted and needed.
“So we compare women who were and were not exposed to this increased access to contraception, in terms of whether they graduated high school, between the ages of 20 and 22,” Stevenson said.
What she found is that increased access led to more women graduating high school. She would like to see more contraceptive access, especially in states where the graduation rate among young women is low.
Nevada Officials Honor Officers Who Died In The Line Of Duty
By The Associated Press
State officials and law enforcement officers from throughout Nevada gathered in the state capital to commemorate three officers who lost their lives while on duty over the past year. A ceremony on the Capitol Mall honored three officers. Nevada Highway Patrol Sergeant Ben Jenkins was shot and killed in White Pine County in March 2020 after stopping to assist a disabled driver on the highway. Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Lieutenant Erik Lloyd and Pahrump Justice Court Bailiff Gerard Smith both passed away from complications related to COVID-19.
