Anh Gray

California is lifting the current regional stay-at-home orders for the entire state Monday. More details are expected later today.

Prior to that, restaurants in California, like the ones in South Lake Tahoe, operated with more limitations than those that are just a short distance across the border in Nevada. Even though COVID-19 restrictions were eased in Greater Sacramento, which included Tahoe’s western shores on Jan. 12, the contrasting mandates between the two states have brought a mix of expectations from visitors.

One restaurant owner on the California border shares what it's like to balance the needs of serving communities across state lines.

It’s been nearly a month since the COVID-19 vaccine first arrived in Nevada. KUNR’s Anh Gray and Lucia Starbuck discuss how the rollout has been going so far.

As of Nov. 17, this blog will no longer be updated. For related articles, please visit our 2020 election webpage.

KUNR’s 2020 Election Blog is a space for updates throughout Election Day and night, as well as short articles based on conversations our reporters have had with community members and local stakeholders to provide greater context to the election process. Because of the heavy reliance on mail-in voting this election due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there may not be final results for some races on election night in 2020. We will post results and updates to this blog as they come in.

During this week’s confirmation hearings, lawmakers have been grilling Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett on various legal issues, including her view of the Affordable Care Act. Next month, the law will be challenged in the nation’s highest court.

KUNR’s Anh Gray explores what’s at stake for Nevadans, and how dismantling the ACA could affect access to health care for many.

Coverage of novel coronavirus is supported by the Mick Hitchcock, Ph.D., Project for Visualizing Science, a science reporting project from the Reynolds School of Journalism.

The Washoe County Health District is conducting its first antibody study to learn the prevalence of COVID-19 in the general population. This requires a blood test that looks for antibodies, which are the body’s immune response to a past infection.

Arbors Memory Care is an assisted living center in Sparks for seniors with Alzheimer's or dementia. In the span of about a month, 14 residents at the facility died from COVID-19. KUNR’s Anh Gray and Lucia Starbuck discuss what led to this outbreak.

As a warning, this story includes graphic images and videos containing violence that may be disturbing, along with inappropriate language.

Organizers of the Black Lives Matter protest on Saturday afternoon in Reno have denounced the violence that took place later that evening after the peaceful protest had ended. 

Lucia Starbuck was on the scene reporting for This Is Reno, and witnessed the events that unfolded at City Hall. She recounted what she saw with KUNR’s Anh Gray.

Coverage of novel coronavirus is supported by the Mick Hitchcock, Ph.D., Project for Visualizing Science, a science reporting project from the Reynolds School of Journalism.

The deployment of the Nevada National Guard is being extended until mid-August to help with COVID-19 relief efforts. 

Coverage of novel coronavirus is supported by the Mick Hitchcock, Ph.D., Project for Visualizing Science, a science reporting project from the Reynolds School of Journalism.

About a quarter of Nevada’s COVID-19 deaths are associated with various state-regulated facilities. And for Washoe County, the ratio is even higher, accounting for more than half of the county’s 54 deaths.

KUNR’s Anh Gray reports that due to the no visitation policies implemented at these care facilities to mitigate infections, it’s been challenging for advocates who aren’t able to see residents.

Coverage of novel coronavirus is supported by the Mick Hitchcock, Ph.D., Project for Visualizing Science, a science reporting project from the Reynolds School of Journalism.

Arbors Memory Care in Sparks is a long-term care facility for seniors with Alzheimer’s or dementia. It was the site of Washoe County’s recent COVID-19 outbreak. Thirty-eight people have been confirmed and three residents have died. 

Coverage of novel coronavirus is supported by the Mick Hitchcock, Ph.D., Project for Visualizing Science, a science reporting project from the Reynolds School of Journalism.

The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected those living in long-term care facilities nationwide. In most states, at least a third of deaths are in those hotspots. And in Washoe County, the deaths associated at these centers account for more than half of the 48 total deaths so far.

KUNR’s Anh Gray reports that the pandemic exposes some particular vulnerabilities for older adults.

Coverage of novel coronavirus is supported by the Mick Hitchcock, Ph.D., Project for Visualizing Science, a science reporting project from the Reynolds School of Journalism.

Nevada has one of the highest rates of gun-related suicides in the nation. That’s according to the Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence. KUNR’s Anh Gray spoke to Dakota Jablon, the suicide prevention specialist for the group. She says during the pandemic, there’s been an increase in gun sales, and she’s concerned that the combination of economic uncertainty and social isolation could exacerbate mental health issues for some.

Coverage of novel coronavirus is supported by the Mick Hitchcock, Ph.D., Project for Visualizing Science, a science reporting project from the Reynolds School of Journalism.

A hooding ceremony is a celebratory event steeped in tradition. For medical students, it’s the culmination of years of hard work. As a result of school closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine held a virtual hooding for the 63 members of the 2020 graduating class. The pride, hope and joy conferred on graduates were still on full display on the screen.

Coverage of novel coronavirus is supported by the Mick Hitchcock, Ph.D., Project for Visualizing Science, a science reporting project from the Reynolds School of Journalism.

“Everyone’s a health reporter now: covering COVID-19 on other beats.” That was the headline of a March article written by David Maas for the International Journalists’ Network website. In the piece, he explains how the novel coronavirus pandemic has shifted the work of journalists nationwide.

Coverage of novel coronavirus is supported by the Mick Hitchcock, Ph.D., Project for Visualizing Science, a science reporting project from the Reynolds School of Journalism.

Editor's Note: On the morning of May 7, KUNR aired the following story and reported that there have been 86 confirmed COVID-19 cases at Lakeside Health and Wellness as of May 6. The data came from a Nevada Department of Health and Human Services database. After the story aired, the number on the database was updated on May 7 to 81 confirmed cases at Lakeside Health and Wellness.

KUNR reached out to the state health department for clarification and received the following email response: "Thank you for your email and question on the Lakeside Health and Wellness case information. The total of 81 is the confirmed case count. There was a reporting error that has been caught and corrected."

Thirty-seven people in Washoe County have died from COVID-19. More than half of those deaths are linked to one facility.  KUNR’s Anh Gray and Lucia Starbuck discuss what they’ve learned so far about the novel coronavirus outbreak in Washoe County.

Coverage of the novel coronavirus is supported by the Mick Hitchcock, Ph.D., Project for Visualizing Science, a science reporting project from the Reynolds School of Journalism.

Public health officials are using contact tracing to track and isolate people infected with COVID-19 or those who might have been exposed. This is a routine public health surveillance tool that can be effective for infectious disease control, but the workforce needs to ramp up in order to respond to the coronavirus. In this report, KUNR's Anh Gray and Lucia Starbuck team up to explore the challenges with contact tracing and how the Nevada National Guard will be stepping in to fill some gaps. 

Coverage of novel coronavirus is supported by the Mick Hitchcock, Ph.D., Project for Visualizing Science, a science reporting project from the Reynolds School of Journalism.

In early March, Nevadan make-up artist Ish Bermudez was touring with the show Chippendales Las Vegas across the country as a wardrobe manager. He began not feeling well while he was still on the road traveling in New York, Ohio and Indiana. He sought care at an urgent care facility, where he was given some pain medication, but a COVID-19 test wasn’t available.

Coverage of novel coronavirus is supported by the Mick Hitchcock, Ph.D., Project for Visualizing Science, a science reporting project from the Reynolds School of Journalism.

According to health officials, increasing COVID-19 testing capacity is one benchmark needed to gradually reopen Nevada. Early on in the pandemic, shortages of testing kits were an issue for Dr. Mark Pandori who runs the Nevada State Public Health Laboratory. That’s why he reached out to other scientists in the community to help fill the gaps. 

KUNR’s Anh Gray talked to one of them to learn if it’s possible to continue to ramp up production of testing materials.