As of Thursday morning, the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Nevada County had reached 4,570. There are 68 new cases since Thursday, April 22, indicating a 2% increase.

Of the 4,570 total cases, 4,387 have been released from isolation and 108 are presently active. Nevada County’s total death toll is 75, with no deaths in the last three weeks.

The county remains in the red tier.

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According to California’s Health and Human Services’ website, Nevada County administered 5,601 vaccine doses this week, bringing the total number of fully vaccinated people in the county up to 28,703 and partial vaccinations up to 13,424 people. Since the federal reinstatement of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine on Sunday, the county has given 11 more doses of that vaccine, bringing the total number Johnson and Johnson vaccine recipients to 1,677.

Public Health Officer Scott Kellermann reported that the local demand for vaccines remained “unabated” during a meeting with members of the Nevada County media last week, but maintained that the governor’s tentative statewide reopening date of June 15 is optimistic.

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“If we continue with the pace of approximately 750 immunizations per day, five days per week, we will have immunized a large segment of the county by June 15,” Kellermann said. “While we will be short of herd immunity, we are certainly headed in the right direction.”

Kellermann said even though the tier system will likely be replaced come June, “masking and physical distancing will still be encouraged.”

Placer County also is in the red tier.

As of Thursday morning, Placer County reported 22,151 COVID-19 cases, indicating a 1% rise in cases over the last seven days. The county’s COVID-19 dashboard indicates there were 194 new cases this week.

There were three deaths in Placer County this week, bringing the death toll to 286.

Placer’s data may reflect inaccuracies because of a lag in information. Additionally, the county issued a press release two weeks ago noting that the COVID-19 transmission rate may be three times what the county has been able to log.

Placer County has distributed 293,286 doses of the available vaccine. Over 124,884 people in the county are fully inoculated of the nearly 400,000 person population. Over 49,279 people are partially vaccinated.

Rebecca O’Neil is a staff writer with the Sierra Sun and The Union, a sister publication of the Sun.