Sisolak extends Phase 2 through last day of July

Gov. Steve Sisolak on Monday announced that Nevada will remain in Phase 2 of the Nevada United: Roadmap to Recovery plan, consistent with public remarks made late last week.

The governor will sign an emergency directive extending the length of Phase 2 through the end of July because of trends in COVID-19 infection rates, the time needed for expanded contact tracing to identify trends and to see the impacts of the governor’s new face covering directive.

“Flexibility is one of the core principles in our roadmap to recovery, precisely to account for the situation we are in now,” Sisolak said. “As I’ve said repeatedly, the virus — and our personal actions to help mitigate its spread — drives the timeline.

“As a state, we were able to begin reopening because Nevadans were staying home as much as possible, washing hands frequently and maintaining six feet of social distancing. Now, all Nevadans must wear face coverings to help slow the spread as well. We can only stay open if we stay safe.”

In addition to extending Phase 2 until the end of July, the directive provides that DMV documents that expired between March 12 and July 15 will be valid through Sept. 13. Customers are encouraged to utilize online services and kiosks whenever possible.

Directive 26 allows courts to move toward normal operations as they reopen to the public by allowing some collective actions to resume and lifting the freeze on statutes of limitations. Businesses that have not paid license renewal fees since the beginning of the State of Emergency will have a grace period through Sept. 30 to pay without penalties.

This directive also allows public bodies to continue to conduct business safely by extending the Open Meeting Law provisions of Directive 6, providing alternative ways for boards, commissions and agencies to allow public participation.

If statewide trends do not improve or get worse, the governor will not hesitate to take any action necessary to protect the public and prevent exceeding our hospital capacity, including reinstituting previous restrictions.

The state is currently reviewing all data and trends to determine any potential options and next steps to help mitigate the spread.

Nye County COVID-19 cases

Nye County reported 20 new COVID-19 cases since Friday before noon.

As of 2 p.m. Monday, the county reported 17 new positives for Nye, adding three more positives on Tuesday. One of those positives reported on Tuesday, however, was an antibody test that came back positive, so data was changed to reflect it as a positive case.

The county is now reporting four people testing positive for an antibody test, down from five after the change.

The total overall COVID-19 cases reported since the beginning of the pandemic in Nye County is 106, up from 86 on Friday before noon. Four people within the Nye County Sheriff’s Office have tested positive and more than 10 are quarantining, according to the sheriff’s office.

There are currently 55 active cases in Pahrump, seven in Amargosa Valley and two in Beatty.

Nye County added that the 17 new positives reported on Monday cover testing dating back to June 25, as the Southern Nevada Health District experienced a backlog in reporting over a period of several days. Many of Pahrump’s recent positive numbers come from testing conducted in Clark County for residents of Pahrump, according to the county.

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Overall, the state has reported 18,456 COVID-19 cases as of Tuesday, according to state data.