# data[].attributes.body
I built a site to keep all the COVID-19 data provided by the Southern Nevada Health District compiled in one place. Find up-to-date information on the outbreak here in Las Vegas:

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Using the press releases and most recent data from the Southern Nevada Health district, the following series of charts tracks demographic data. The age categories used by the health district are reproduced in this graph.

# data[].attributes.body
To understand how this is going to impact the whole state, see this linked page from my new site:

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Below you can see an updating graph of cases in the State graphed as stacked areas. The base area will always be the state's total number of cases. Stacked on top are the caseloads by county. The size of each area should be proportional to the overall state's caseloads and to each other.

# data[].attributes.body
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
March 26, 2020

The Southern Nevada Health District is reporting 4 additional individuals with 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) who have died in Clark County. The individuals include:

A man in his 60s with underlying medical conditions

A man in his 80s with underlying medical conditions

A man in his 30s with underlying medical conditions

A man in his 60s with no reported underlying medical conditions

Case Updates

350 cases, including 10 deaths

The six previously reported deaths include:

A man in his 70s with underlying medical conditions

A woman in her 50s with underlying conditions

A woman in her 70s who had underlying medical conditions

A man in his 60s with underlying medical conditions

A woman in her 60s with underlying medical conditions

A man in his 60s with underlying medical conditions

Information Line

The Health District’s Information Line is now available seven days a week, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at (702) 759-INFO (4636).

There is currently no vaccine to protect against COVID-19 and no medications are approved to treat it. Social distancing has been shown to be effective in slowing the spread of disease. People should be staying home and following the directives put in place by Governor Steve Sisolak to limit public gatherings to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.

The full case report for March 26, 2020, is available on the Southern Nevada Health District’s website at www.southernnevadahealthdistrict.org/coronavirus#cases.

For more information and updates go to www.southernnevadahealthdistrict.org/coronavirus.

# data[].attributes.body
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
March 23, 2020

The Southern Nevada Health District is announcing two more patients with 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) have died in Clark County. The individuals include a woman in her 70s who had underlying medical conditions and a man in his 60s with underlying medical conditions. Currently, there have been four reported deaths from COVID-19 in Clark County.

“We are saddened to report that two more people with coronavirus disease have died in our community,” said Dr. Fermin Leguen, Acting Chief Health Officer of the Southern Nevada Health District.

As of Sunday, March 22, 2020, the Health District is reporting 151 cases of COVID-19 cases in Clark County. A case update will be provided later today.

The Southern Nevada Public Health Laboratory continues to receive additional but limited testing resources and is providing testing primarily in support of Health District contact investigations. The Health District reports positive cases from the Southern Nevada Public Health Laboratory and private laboratories, as more tests are done, more positive results will be reported.

While the increase in positive case reports may cause concern for the public, it allows the Health District to better investigate cases, advise patient contacts, and serves as reinforcement for the public about the importance of “staying home for Nevada.”

# data[].attributes.headline
Demographic Breakdown of COVID 19 Cases in Southern NV

# data[].attributes.subject
Demographic Breakdown of COVID 19 Cases in Southern NV

# data[].attributes.body
As of March 20, 2020

# data[].attributes.body
US Cases: 32,644       US Deaths: 402
NV Cases: 190. NV Deaths: 2

# data[].attributes.headline
Latest Updates: 19,931 known cases in the US, 126 in Southern NV

# data[].attributes.subject
Latest Updates: 19,931 known cases in the US, 126 in Southern NV

# data[].attributes.body
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
March 20, 2020

The Southern Nevada Health District will provide a case count update and COVID-19 Clark County Report on its website Mondays through Fridays. The report is available at www.southernnevadahealthdistrict.org/coronavirus/.

Case updates

126 cases, including two confirmed deaths

The Health District continues to remind the public to take steps to protect themselves and others, including those most vulnerable to the impacts of COVID-19. This includes older adults and people who have chronic medical conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, and lung disease.

Stay home to protect others.

Put distance between yourself and others. Keep at least 6 feet between you and other people.

Do not go to the emergency department unless it is essential. Emergency departments need to be able to serve those with the most critical needs.

If you have a mild cough, fever, or other respiratory symptoms, contact your doctor first.

Practice everyday preventive actions to help prevent the spread of respiratory viruses:

Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.

Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth.

Avoid close contact with people who are sick.

Cover your cough and sneeze with a tissue, then throw the tissue in the trash.

Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces. Stay informed. The COVID-19 situation is changing frequently. Up to date information is available on the Health District website at southernnevadahealthdistrict.org/coronavirus or the CDC website at www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html.

# data[].attributes.headline
Nationwide Confirmed Cases up to 16,000 More Expected

# data[].attributes.subject
Nationwide Confirmed Cases up to 16,000 More Expected

# data[].attributes.body
Hospital need follows roughly 3 weeks after exposure even as the number of cases doubles every 3 days.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Live coronavirus dashboard tracker. See data, maps, social media trends, and learn about prevention measures.

# data[].attributes.headline
From the Southern Nevada Health District

# data[].attributes.subject
From the Southern Nevada Health District

# data[].attributes.body
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
March 19, 2020

Case updates

74 confirmed cases, including one confirmed death

Southern Nevada Health District Service Updates

The Health District’s Birth and Death Records office is closed to the public. Services are available online, and records may also be ordered by mail.

Clients can access the online form for birth certificates at:
www.southernnevadahealthdistrict.org/programs/vital-records/birth-certificates/

Death certificates may be accessed at:
www.southernnevadahealthdistrict.org/programs/vital-records/death-certificates/

The Southern Nevada Health District continues to offer clinical services to the community. Steps are being taken to ensure clients, patients, and staff members are protected during service delivery. Additional services are suspended or available online. Check the Health District website for updated information.

# data[].attributes.headline
Close up on NYT Info on ICU Bed Availability Over course of Pandemic

# data[].attributes.subject
Close up on NYT Info on ICU Bed Availability Over course of Pandemic

# data[].attributes.body
(See post below for full article)

# data[].attributes.headline
Coronavirus Projected Effects on ICU Beds Over Time

# data[].attributes.subject
Coronavirus Projected Effects on ICU Beds Over Time

# data[].attributes.body
Here's an infographic to help see why containment matters. Look at the number of places that need 800% of their ICU capacity in only 6 months if we don't slow the transmission of the virus down. Our actions determine if we end up with 20% infected or 60-70% infected. This is why Social Distancing is so important right now.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
A new Harvard analysis shows that many parts of the United States will have far too few hospital beds if the new coronavirus continues to spread widely and if nothing is done to expand capacity.

In 40 percent of markets around the country, hospitals would not be able to make enough room for all the patients who became ill with Covid-19, even if they could empty their beds of other patients. That statistic assumes that 40 percent of adults become infected with the virus over 12 months, a scenario described as "moderate" by the team behind the calculations.

These numbers are not exact predictions. In many ways, they reflect a worst-case scenario, since they do not take into account the efforts hospitals can make to quickly increase capacity during an emergency. Around the country, hospitals have begun canceling elective operations and speeding home patients with less critical ailments. Those efforts could increase the number of free beds available for coronavirus patients. In a half-dozen interviews, hospital executives estimated that they could increase their capacity between 20 percent and 70 percent.

Yet the Harvard estimates suggest that the coronavirus outbreak could require significantly more resources than that. In hard-hit Italy, hospitals have been rationing care for older patients who are severely ill with the virus.

"If we don't make substantial changes, both in spreading the disease over time and expanding capacity, we're going to run out of hospital beds," said Dr. Ashish Jha, the director of the Harvard Global Health Institute, which produced the estimates. "And in that instance, we will not be able to take care of critically ill people, and people will die."

Political leaders have talked about unusual emergency options: With policy changes, hospitals for the military and veterans may be able to open their doors to civilians. The military itself may be able to help build new facilities and staff them. Retired doctors and nurses could be relicensed.

But the estimates in this model show that in many realistic scenarios, the scope of the epidemic may overtake the physical and human capacity of the U.S. health system.

See estimates for each hospital region under different scenarios at ProPublica.

The Harvard researchers considered a range of projections, reflecting how much epidemiologists still don't know about what we should expect. They considered three estimates for how long the disease would take to make its way through the U.S. population. And they considered three credible estimates for how many adults would eventually become infected with the disease, however long it takes to spread.

One thing is very clear from these numbers: The longer the disease takes to spread, the less severe the crunch that hospitals around the country will face. This effort to stretch out the infections over more time is why so many states and cities are closing businesses and schools and canceling large events.

You might have seen charts like this that are hypothetical. These use real information about hospital beds in the United States and real estimates about how many people will need them.

Nationwide, the difference between an epidemic that takes six months and one that takes 18 months could mean the difference between health systems that are stretched and those that are completely overwhelmed, even in the model's more mild scenario, in which 20 percent of adults contract the virus.

The challenge may be especially severe for critical care services, where demand is expected to outstrip capacity at an even greater rate. These types of services are also harder to scale up because they require both specialized staff and expensive equipment such as ventilators.

In places already short of beds, a situation that's challenging during a slow-moving epidemic could be catastrophic during a fast-moving one. Take, for example, the New York City suburb Hackensack, N.J. If the disease reached only 20 percent of the population over the course of 18 months, Hackensack would still need to increase its number of available intensive care beds 140 percent. In a much more dire scenario, in which the disease spread to 60 percent of the population over a year, I.C.U. capacity would need to surge 11-fold.

Daniel Varga, chief physician executive at Hackensack Meridian Health, said his system had already seen its surge capacities tested when about 10 people with suspected coronavirus came to a hospital at once.

"We had to divert to other hospitals for a period of time and throttle back on elective admissions," he said.

He estimates that, by canceling elective operations and using a new fleet of recently ordered ventilators, his hospitals could increase capacity by about 20 percent. Designating one hospital in the system to work specifically with coronavirus cases may allow them to go even higher.

Several of the areas that may need the most new beds are close to the Washington State coronavirus outbreak, which has already led to 48 deaths and 787 infections.

But even many of the places that could handle a slower epidemic would be overwhelmed in one that infected many people quickly. Look at Manhattan. If the disease eventually reached 40 percent of all adults and took 18 months to spread, the hospitals would need to add or free up about 40 percent of their occupied beds, according to the estimates. If it took only six months, they would need to find nearly double the number that patients with other health problems currently use.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York announced Tuesday that he expected cases in the state to peak in 45 days, faster than any of the estimates shown in this article. His estimates for available hospital and I.C.U. beds are similar to the numbers in the Harvard model.

The American health system has spent years shedding hundreds of thousands of hospital beds, as procedures now typically require shorter stays. Generally, that's considered a good thing, but it could leave the country vulnerable in this type of crisis.

NewYork-Presbyterianoperates 2,600 hospital beds across the city. It began to delay elective operations last Friday, and has set up stretchers and chairs in empty areas near emergency rooms to create additional seating.

The areas that have significant slack in the system, allowing them to handle an influx of patients, tend to be rural and sparsely populated.

The Harvard team used data on Covid-19 patients in China to estimate which U.S. areas will face extraordinary stress or be relatively well prepared. One big factor is how many people in each region are older than 65 and thus at the highest risk of needing hospital care. ( Other research teams use somewhat different assumptions.)

As Dr. Jha described it, there are regions that look like South Korea, where the population is relatively young and where Covid-19 patients have been able to get care. In these places, the fatality rate from the disease has stayed low.

And there are places that look like Northern Italy, where the population is older, some patients are being triaged from the highest level of care, and the disease appears to be killing a higher proportion of ill patients.

The research suggests the possibility of a particularly worrisome shortage of beds in intensive care units, a type of hospital bed for patients with the most acute illnesses. Evidence from overseas and from Washington State suggests that many patients with severe illness from Covid-19 require assistance from breathing machines called mechanical ventilators. Hospitals have a limited number of the machines and - perhaps more important - a limited number of nurses and respiratory therapists who are trained to care for the patients who require them.

The estimates of total I.C.U. beds from the Harvard team include specialized beds that are normally devoted to cardiac, surgical and trauma patients. There is some ability for hospitals to increase their numbers. If surgical procedures are canceled, ventilators used in operating rooms may be made available. The federal government has a strategic stockpile of ventilators likely to be deployed in certain regions. In a phone call with governors on Monday, President Trump encouraged governors to also look into buying more ventilators themselves.

But hospitals may face shortages of workers that are more limiting than any shortage of ventilators or physical beds. The United States has fewer doctors per capita than Italy does, for example. And some rural places that could add more beds may not be able to recruit more health care workers.

To deliver I.C.U.-level care, nurses from different hospital departments may need to work under the supervision of those who typically work with critically ill patients.

"Under normal standard of care, we take care of one to three patients," said Elizabeth Bridges, president-elect of the American Association of Critical Care Nurses. "I think what is unique here is we need to ask, What are the things that other providers can do? Adding them in is an immediate enhancer of capacity."

In Great Falls, Mont., one of the few areas that would have more than enough beds to handle a moderately damaging coronavirus outbreak, staffing may be a real challenge.

"We could flex up higher, but the hitch is usually about staffing and not beds," said John Goodnow, the chief executive of Benefis Health System, which operates multiple hospitals in and around Great Falls. "The thing that is worrying me now is, What if the school districts close? Then that's a lot of people with kids who need to stay home."

His local school districts still remain open, but Mr. Goodnow has gone as far as searching for empty areas of his hospital campuses that could be turned into temporary care centers for the children of his hospital's workers.

The Harvard team that calculated the estimates consisted of Ashish K. Jha, Thomas Tsai, Ben Jacobson, Stefanie Friedhoff and Jose Figueroa. They used data from the American Hospital Association and the American Hospital Directory to measure the number of hospital and I.C.U. beds in each region and to obtain their average occupancy. The occupancy rates are an annual average, and tend to fluctuate throughout the year.

To select the infection rates for the three scenarios, they relied on the projections of their colleague Marc Lipsitch, an epidemiologist who has estimated possible trajectories for the epidemic. The team considered infections only among adults, because few children have required hospitalization for the disease so far, and children tend to be treated in pediatric beds, which are not included in the bed counts they used.

Estimates of the proportion of ill patients who would require hospitalization and intensive care come from scholarly literature on the Wuhan, China, outbreak of the disease, as does an estimate of how many days each patient would be likely to stay in the hospital (12 days). Estimates of the effects on a community's proportion of older residents on hospitalization also come from studies of China.

The maps show 305 of the 306 hospital referral regions in the United States. There was not enough data to include the Panama City, Fla., area in the analysis.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
These Places Could Run Out of Hospital Beds as Coronavirus Spreads

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
New estimates from a Harvard research team show that, in many parts of the country, there may not be enough hospital beds and staff for coronavirus patients. A shortage of intensive care beds for the sickest patients may be even worse.

# data[].attributes.headline
Southern NV Health District Update March 18, 2020

# data[].attributes.subject
Southern NV Health District Update March 18, 2020

# data[].attributes.body
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
March 18, 2020

Southern Nevada Health District Operations

The Southern Nevada Health District continues to offer clinical services to the community. Steps are being taken to ensure clients, patients, and staff members are protected during service delivery. Additional services are suspended or available online. Check the Health District website for updated information.

Case updates

69 confirmed cases, including one confirmed death

The Health District continues to remind the public to take steps to protect themselves and others, including those most vulnerable to the impacts of COVID-19. This includes older adults and people who have chronic medical conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, and lung disease.

Stay home when you are sick.

Put distance between yourself and others. Keep at least 6 feet between you and other people. Stay home as much as possible. Avoid shaking hands.

Do not go to the emergency department unless it is essential. Emergency departments need to be able to serve those with the most critical needs.

If you have a mild cough, fever, or other respiratory symptoms, contact your doctor first.

Practice everyday preventive actions to help prevent the spread of respiratory viruses:

Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.

Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth.

Avoid close contact with people who are sick.

Cover your cough and sneeze with a tissue, then throw the tissue in the trash.

Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces. Stay informed. The COVID-19 situation is changing frequently. Up to date information is available on the Health District website at www.southernnevadahealthdistrict.org/coronavirus or the CDC website at www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html.

# data[].attributes.body
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
March 16, 2020

LAS VEGAS – The Southern Nevada Health District is reporting 35 cases of COVID-19 in Clark County, including one person who has died. The death occurred in a male Clark County resident who was in his 60s. He had been hospitalized and had underlying medical conditions.

“This loss of life is a tragedy, and we want to express our condolences to the family,” said Dr. Fermin Leguen, Acting Chief Health Officer of the Southern Nevada Health District. “We must continue to emphasize how important it is to protect those who are most vulnerable to the impacts of the virus and urge our community to support the public health measures and recommendations that are in place,” said Dr. Leguen.

Current guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is available on its website:

www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/index.html

Updates and information are available on the Southern Nevada Health District website at:

www.southernnevadahealthdistrict.org/coronavirus

https://www.southernnevadahealthdistrict.org/news-release/southern-nevada-health-district-is-reporting-a-total-of-35-cases-in-clark-county-including-one-death/

# data[].attributes.headline
Updates from Southern Nevada Health District

# data[].attributes.subject
Updates from Southern Nevada Health District

# data[].attributes.body
3/13/2020

New Case Update

A male in his 20s who is isolating at home and is a close contact of a confirmed case.

A female in her 40s who is hospitalized in good condition.

A female in her 50s who is hospitalized in stable condition.

A male in his 30s who is isolated at home.

A female in her 30s. No additional details are available at this time.

A female in her 70s. No additional details are available at this time

A male in his 50s. No additional details are available at this time.

A male in his 30s who is isolating at home.

Previously Reported Case Updates

A male in his 40s who is isolating at home.

A male in his 60s who is isolating at home.

A male in his 60s who is in serious condition.

A female in her 70s who is isolating at home and is a close contact of a previously reported case.

A male in his 60s who is isolating at home and is a close contact of a previously reported case.

A female in her 40s who was hospitalized on March 8. She is isolated and in stable condition. This individual is a visitor from New York. She arrived in Las Vegas on March 5, and attended the Women of Power Summit at The Mirage.

A female in her 70s with underlying medical conditions with in-state travel history to Reno, Nev., and no out-of-state or international travel history. The patient was asymptomatic while traveling. The patient remains hospitalized in serious condition.

A male in his 50s with a travel history to Washington state. The patient remains hospitalized in serious condition.

southernnevadahealthdistrict.org/news-release/southern-nevada-health-district-announces-nine-new-positive-cases-of-covid-19/

# data[].attributes.headline
Here is the Johns Hopkins Map of Known Coronavirus Cases

# data[].attributes.subject
Here is the Johns Hopkins Map of Known Coronavirus Cases

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
COVID-19 Map - Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Coronavirus COVID-19 Global Cases by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University (JHU)