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Nevada County COVID trends look good, for now

Nevada County improved its COVID-19 case and positivity rates once again this week, for now bucking nationwide trends hinting at another surge.

According to state data, the county’s case rate fell to its lowest since November this week, from eight new cases per day to 6.9. Its positivity rate dropped from 3.7% to 2.4%, within the threshold for the orange tier.

However, nationwide and in parts of the state, cases and deaths have increased in the last few weeks, with Nevada County Public Health Officer Dr. Scott Kellermann warning it could happen here, too.



“Sometimes we lag a little behind, so we’ll have to see,” Kellermann said. “We still have active cases going on in this county and although it looks like the trends in the right direction, I think we may see a little uptick in the number of cases here before too long.”

While county’s cases have declined since January, on Monday it reported 36 new cases over the weekend, the largest increase in over a month. The number of active cases has also continued to increase to over 100 after dropping under 40 in February.



While some of the virus’ resurgence may be due to reopening — just under 50% of the state’s population is within orange tier counties — Kellermann said that can be mitigated with the now familiar non-pharmaceutical measures.

According to Kellermann, schools and restaurants that take proper precautions are not as much of a problem as people congregating before and after with more lax judgment.

“The reopening, if it’s done carefully, shouldn’t be a problem,” he said.

Kellermann said the county’s vaccination efforts will protect people from the most severe effects of the virus and help mitigate the spread as it reopens.

Increased travel and get-togethers are also concerns, as cases have spiked following holidays in the past.

Kellermann said the average age of people contracting coronavirus has lowered considerably recently, now closer to 30 years old.

He urged everyone eligible to get vaccinated, and for those not yet eligible to get familiar with the state’s vaccine sign-up site, MyTurn — https://myturn.ca.gov. Everyone over 50 years old becomes eligible for a vaccine on Thursday.

“Start looking into MyTurn now,“ he said. ”Pretty soon everyone will be eligible. There will be no lack of participants.“

John Orona is a Staff Writer for The Union, a sister publication to the Sierra Sun. To contact him, email jorona@theunion.com or call 530-477-4229.

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