The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Nevada County had reached 9,414 as of Thursday morning. There are 132 new cases since Nov. 11, indicating a 1% increase over last week.

According to the COVID-19 dashboard, 9,111 people have been released from isolation and 198 remain active. Since the Delta variant surge began in August, 30 people have died, bringing the total number of deaths since the pandemic began to 105.

This week marks the first seven-day duration since August that Nevada County has not endured a COVID-19-caused death.

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Nevada County public health officials noted there had been “several outbreaks” in skilled nursing facilities since August. All of them are over, except for one, said Glennah Trochet, deputy public health officer, in the office’s Q&A Wednesday.

“We saw a lot of elderly residents test positive,” Trochet said. “Several were hospitalized because of the infection. We believe these fully vaccinated residents may have had decreased immunity (because) they received their vaccination back in January to March.”

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When asked about the status of the county’s plateauing case rate, Public Health Officer Dr. Scott Kellerman said numbers of active cases went up slightly.

“I hope we’re having a plateau,” Kellerman said. “This week it appears that we’re heading upward, sadly.”

Kellerman noted that the plateau post-Delta was higher statewide, but was eager to celebrate increased immunizations.

“(Partially or fully) immunized over 70% of our population 5 and up,” Kellerman said. “Which is impressive for our community. Sadly, we still have a high virus rate.”

According to the state COVID-19 dashboard, using a seven-day average, Nevada County’s daily new case rate per 100,000 residents was 23.4 as of Wednesday, nearly twice the state’s number.

Nevada County administered 3,763 vaccines over the last week, bringing the total number of doses delivered to 132,426.

Over the course of last week, 395 people in the county became completely vaccinated, bringing that number up to 57,669.

PLACER COUNTY

As of Thursday morning, Placer County reported 397 new cases, a 1% increase in cases from the prior week.

There were 18 recorded deaths caused by COVID-19 in Placer County last week, bringing the death toll to 457.

Placer County has distributed 544,008 vaccines since their introduction. The number of fully vaccinated Placer County residents is now 239,284 people.

VACCINES FOR CHILDREN

According to its website, the Tahoe Forest Health System began vaccinating school-aged children — ages 5 to 18 — last week. The Tahoe Forest Gateway Vaccine Clinic, at 11004 Donner Pass Road, offers the pediatric Pfizer vaccine to children aged 5 to 11 years old.

Appointments for the clinic can be made through MyTurn.

As of Wednesday, two weeks after the state announced children ages 5 to 11 were eligible, 16% of Nevada County children in that age group had received their first dose, according to state COVID-19 vaccination data.

Rebecca O’Neil is a staff writer with the Sierra Sun and The Union, a sister publication of the Sun. She can be reached at roneil@theunion.com