The risk of contracting COVID-19 in the Truckee Meadows is currently “very high.” That’s according to the latest information from the Truckee Meadows COVID Risk Meter, a tool used by officials to determine the overall community risk posed by the novel coronavirus.
A regional task force of doctors, politicians and community leaders regularly looks at data across five different categories and assigns each a score. The higher the total score, the higher the risk.
Right now, the Truckee Meadows is in the dark red, meaning the threat is “very high.”
Officials say surging case numbers and high test positivity rates are to blame. Furthermore, they say the only thing keeping the area out of the “severe” purple category is that hospitals aren’t completely full yet. As of Tuesday, 83% of staffed hospital beds countywide are occupied.
“If hospitalizations get even a tiny bit worse, we will be in the purple,” said Reno City Councilmember Naomi Duerr, a member of the task force. “We only put purple in there as a last-ditch to think, ‘Well, here’s something we’ll never reach.’”
The impact of the disease hit home for Reno Mayor Hillary Schieve. Minutes before addressing the media, she found out a close friend had just died from COVID-19.
“I’m pleading with you to take this seriously,” an emotional Schieve said to reporters. “This just shouldn’t be the way that it is. And every week now I’m having friends call me and tell me that they have it.”
Schieve said it’s hard right now, but she’s hopeful for federal support, after a conversation with mayors from around the country and President-elect Joe Biden.
Local officials are expecting the Truckee Meadows to reach that severe purple threat level over the next couple of weeks, as hospitals become overrun with sick patients.
Meanwhile, restaurants, bars, gyms and casinos remain open under Gov. Steve Sisolak’s latest restrictions, at 25% capacity.
The task force says people should only leave their household to get food, see a doctor or go to work. Additionally, if you feel sick, stay home.
