As of Thursday morning, the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Nevada County had reached 4,070. There are 82 new cases since last Thursday, March 4, indicating a 2% increase.

Of the 4,070 total cases, 3,934 have been released from isolation and 62 are presently active. There have been 74 deaths by COVID-19 in Nevada County, none in the last five weeks.

Officials from Nevada County’s Department of Public Health encouraged residents to sign up for MyTurn to receive notification of vaccine eligibility and open appointments. Visit myturn.ca.gov or call 1-833-422-4255 to register.

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According to Nevada County’s vaccination data, the county has distributed 28,553 vaccines so far.

Last week, Gruver said approximately 17,000 of those vaccines went to residents who are 65 and over. The remainder were available to those who work in education, food and agriculture, childcare and emergency responders.

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Nevada and Placer counties are eight weeks into the purple tier. Both counties’ seven-day positivity rate dropped significantly since the pandemic’s third peak in December, but the case rate per 100,000 people keeps the counties in the most restrictive tier.

As of Thursday morning, Placer County reported 19,911 COVID-19 cases, indicating a 1% rise in cases over the last seven days. The county’s COVID-19 dashboard indicates that there are 293 new cases this week.

There were no deaths in Placer County this week, leaving the death toll at 232.

Placer’s data may reflect inaccuracies because of a lag in information.

Placer County District 5 Supervisor Cindy Gustafson said residents of Placer County who qualify can text “PLACERVACCINE” to 898-211 in order to schedule an appointment.

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