Pandemic Now

Nevada Week | Pandemic Now    

SEASON 4: EPISODE 6 | Airdate: 8/20/2021

After months of watching the number of COVID-19 cases climb, some recent metrics show cases are leveling off, somewhat, but Clark County reached a grim milestone this week. The Southern Nevada Health District reported more than 5,000 people in Clark County have died due to COVID-19. The Health District also announced that nearly 300,000 people have been infected with the virus. 

Christina Madison is an associate professor of pharmacy practice with Roseman University of Health Sciences. She said more people are getting vaccinated against the virus, but not at a quick enough pace.

“We are doing better, but we need to do more,” Madison said.

She said at this point with the availability of the vaccine deaths from COVID-19 are preventable. Madison told Nevada Week that the reason the Delta variant has been able to move so quickly is that unvaccinated people have become a vector for it.

Cecia Alvarado is the Nevada state director for Mi Familia Vota. Normally, her group works to register voters and get out the vote, specifically in the Latinx community, but since June, they have been focused on getting out the word on the safety and effectiveness of vaccines.

She said the campaign was supposed to be small but they quickly learned that they needed to do more. Now, volunteers are going door-to-door talking with people about their vaccine concerns.

Alvarado said one of the main concerns is a lack of access to health care to begin with. She said many families haven’t seen a health care professional in years. They are concerned that they’re not healthy enough to get the vaccine.

Mi Familia Vota now has doctors and health care providers at their events to make sure people can talk to them about any health concerns they may have. 

She said addressing the specific needs of each community is the best way to address vaccine hesitancy. For instance, not everyone can afford to take a day off to get the vaccine or if the side effects from the vaccine make them too sick to go to work.

Alvarado said in those cases incentives like getting a $100 gift card could work because it would offset losing work for a day.

Madison said that for some people incentives like raffle drawings and gift cards have the opposite effect, causing people to wonder what’s wrong with the vaccine that they have to be paid to get it.

Overall, both Madison and Alvarado agreed that it is important to be mindful of answering people’s questions about the vaccines and addressing their individual concerns. 

In response to the economic pain caused by the pandemic, Congress passed the American Rescue Plan, which sends billions of dollars to states, local governments and school districts. Nevada will be getting billions of dollars.

Now, state officials want the public’s input on where the money should be spent. State Treasurer Zach Conine along with Gov. Steve Sisolak and other officials have launched a 75-stop tour across the state to listen to what regular Nevadans have to say about where the money should be spent. 

He said some of the money comes with restrictions on where it should be spent but some can be spent where the state wants it to go.

Conine said the federal relief funds are an unprecedented chance to fundamentally fix long-standing problems in Nevada. 

State leaders on the listening tour have already heard several ideas, he said, from county commissions, chambers of commerce and town hall meetings with everyday Nevadans. The information gathered on the tour will be put into a database that will be used by the Legislature to create a plan.

Some of the federal money has already been used for rental assistance for people who have been financially impacted by the pandemic. 

The CDC has once again instituted an eviction moratorium, but there is some debate about whether it actually applies in Nevada because a law passed by the Nevada Legislature offers similar protections.

Enrique Acuña with the Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada said his group believes the moratorium does apply to Las Vegas. 

Regardless, his group is seeing an increase in people asking for help with eviction notices. Acuña said they are helping hundreds of people, both landlords and tenants, figure out issues around rent.

Under Nevada law, landlords can now apply for rental assistance for their tenants.

Acuña suggests renters apply for rental assistance as soon as possible. He also said they should file CDC paperwork with their landlord and if they are given an eviction notice, answer it and contact the Legal Aid Center for help.

Guests

• Christina Madison, Associate Professor of Pharmacy Practice, Roseman University of Health Science
• Cecia Alvarado, Nevada State Director, Mi Familia Vota
• Zach Conine, Nevada State Treasurer
• Enrique Acuňa, Attorney, Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada

Resources

• Southern Nevada Health District Vaccine Information
• CDC Vaccine Information
• Nevada Health Response