RENO, Nev. (AP) - Nevada health officials are urging residents to avoid celebrating Cinco de Mayo with people outside their own household on Tuesday for fear it will cause another spike in COVID-19 cases like they believe resulted from gatherings to celebrate Easter last month.
Washoe County Health District Officer Kevin Dick made a special appeal Monday for Nevadans to be especially vigilant in practicing social distancing and forgo family gatherings or traditional celebrations of the Mexican holiday.
Dick said last week that contact tracing showed a number of new cases were tied to people who acknowledged they participated in extending family gatherings in violation of the governor’s stay-at-home order.
“I think people may be becoming a little more relaxed and may have lost some of the focus initially on how they are protecting themselves and others,” he said Monday.
Dick said Cinco de Mayo is “an important holiday for many people.”
“But celebrate with close household members you live with. Celebrate remotely using social media,” he said.
“It’s very important if we want to be successful in reopening our economy and getting businesses open and people back into those businesses that we have to be careful that we are protecting one another into the long term,” Dick said.
More than 5,400 people in Nevada have tested positive for COVID-19 and more than 250 have died from the virus.
Last week, Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak extended a stay-at-home order until May 15. He said he may allow the reopening, on that date or sooner, of many nonessential businesses. But he said bars, casinos and shopping malls would likely stay shuttered.
In other developments Monday:
- The longtime epidemiologist for Washoe County who suddenly retired last week says the county health chief forced him out. Dr. Randall Todd told the Reno Gazette-Journal that he decided to retire after Dick demanded his resignation April 24. Todd said in a letter to the Washoe Board of Health on Sunday that Dick lacks the qualifications to serve as the district’s chief health officer. Dick told reporters Monday he has a 34-year career protecting public health.
- For the first time, Washoe County began testing people who don’t have symptoms associated with COVID-19. Dick said they’re helping test vulnerable populations beginning with nursing homes and state licensed facilities. They’re also making testing available to first responders, including the Washoe County sheriff’s office and law officers and firefighters for the city of Reno.
- A private service began offering drive-thru testing Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings in a Walmart parking lot in North Las Vegas. Quest Diagnostics said the program is available to people meeting Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines and exhibiting symptoms of the coronavirus. Tests are by appointment only, with no out-of-pocket cost.
- Appointment-only drive-thru testing for COVID-19 is planned Tuesday and Wednesday at an idled casino parking structure in Las Vegas. Appointments have to be made on the UMC website.
- Officials set a July 1 goal for resuming classes at Nevada’s university and college campuses. Nevada System of Higher Education Chancellor Thom Reilly on Monday offered what he termed options for resuming “some form of in-person instruction, campus housing and athletics events” for the summer and fall 2020 semesters. A one-page letter didn’t provide specifics, but said science classes, for instance, might include online lectures and lab sessions with reduced student numbers. The system includes University of Nevada campuses in Reno and Las Vegas, Nevada State College in Henderson and community colleges around the state. Reilly said officials are working with the Mountain West Conference and NCAA about the 2020-21 athletic season.
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