Thread by @GovSisolak

Thank you for joining me tonight for our COVID-19 press conference. Follow along here for updates....

We have learned a lot day-by-day about how best to analyze this data & tackle this disease, and in the last week, the @NVHealthRespon1 Team finalized a long term mitigation strategy for the state of Nevada to help us provide some predictability and stability moving forward.

Tonight, we are laying out a long term strategy for mitigating the spread of COVID-19 in Nevada through a targeted approach – all centered back to our original goal of making our response state managed and locally executed.

The State of Nevada and our nation are still in response mode to the COVID-19 pandemic and will be for the foreseeable future. The virus is still infecting people and is likely to do so for the months ahead until a vaccine is developed.

At the beginning of this response, we took bold moves to flatten the curve by issuing broad-based stay-at-home orders and closures, and it worked – because outside of a vaccine, we know that decreasing interactions and mobility is a successful measure to mitigate the spread.

However, shutting down public & economic activity is not sustainable in the long term. Hundreds of thousands lost jobs, businesses suffered, & our fragile economy took a massive hit.

But there's good news: by switching to a strategic, targeted approach, we can protect the health of Nevadans by mitigating the spread of disease at the root of where it is occurring, all while keeping our economy open & avoiding hurting the businesses that are doing their part

This new approach will ensure the State, in coordination with each county, can assess all the data & make timely decisions to address identified risk areas.

Here's a quick summary:
Every week, using data, the State will update the three Elevated Disease Transmission criteria for each county...

The COVID-19 response task force will then review the criteria & see which counties are experiencing a decrease in risk, or an increased risk, meaning a county met two or more of these criteria for two or more consecutive weeks...

If a county is determined to have an increased risk based on the data, they will enter an assessment and review process with the state task force that could result in changing the county’s mitigation level...

During that assessment, the Task Force & county will review all available data & statewide critical metrics to determine the root cause of the spread, and ultimately come up with an action plan to address it...

This could lead to targeted measures such as:
Increased enforcement
Decrease in gathering size
Decrease in fire code capacity for certain businesses
& more...

The Task Force will also be looking at other critical areas that will determine why a county is experiencing an increased risk level, such as:
Hospital Capacity, PPE, Testing Capacity, Case Investigation &Contact Tracing , Protection of Vulnerable Populations & Enforcement

Its through this review process that the county and State will be able to determine the most effective targeted approach to take to mitigate the spread in that area.

In the case that there is not enough data or info needed to take a targeted approach in a county, or if a county is not collaborating w/ the State in a productive manner, we will not hesitate to implement mitigation measures in accepted high risk settings.

I want to be clear: in no way are we relaxing our mitigation efforts – we are taking a more strategic, aggressive approach that will target this disease where it is spreading and take action to stop it.

Until the first assessment takes place and action plans are finalized between the counties and the task force, the current restrictions for bars, pubs and taverns will remain in place for the four counties previously identified as meeting increased transmission risk criteria.

Just as before, this plan will not work if we don’t have full participation from all Nevadans – every county, municipality, business, employee, neighbor, and family.

If Nevadans continue to wear face coverings as is mandated, along with practicing aggressive social distancing, this targeted approach should work and will allow more sectors of our economy to remain open.

If Nevadans begin to relax their efforts and take this less seriously, this targeted approach will not work, and will lead our state backward which could ultimately lead once again to broad-based closures and limitations. I don’t want that, and neither do all of you.

We can do both: we can mitigate the spread and avoid harming businesses that are doing their part, but only if we all commit to it. I implore you to remain as vigilant as ever.

Make no mistake, NV: we are in a precarious position. I promise you, I will give you all I have: my energy, resources, focus & my best efforts, to walk this tightrope between your personal health & financial sustainability, but to get this done, we all need to be in it together.