Nevada County’s COVID-19 Dashboard, where residents can go to see the status of the pandemic’s progression, is down.

In a Q&A Wednesday, Nevada County’s Public Health Director Jill Blake said a data communication issue between the two systems employed by the state prevents county officials from posting “an accurate number of open, active cases.”

“As soon as the state’s data issue is addressed, then we will put that number back up,” Blake said, estimating that the problem would be addressed by the state within the week.

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According to her, as well as Deputy Public Health Officer Dr. Glennah Trochet, case numbers are still lessening after the county’s Delta-variant surge peaked in August.

The last number recorded by the dashboard was tallied Wednesday morning. The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Nevada County had reached 8,824. There are 118 new cases since Oct. 14, which would indicate a 1% increase over last week, if the data were up to date.

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According to the lagging dashboard, 8,077 people have been released from isolation and 646 remain active. Since the start of August and the surge caused by the virus’ Delta variant, 26 people have died — one this week — bringing the total number of deaths since the pandemic began to 101.

Last week, Blake said the consistently decreasing number of cases finally can be identified as “a trend.”

Commenting on the county’s dropping weekly case counts, the county’s Public Health Officer Dr. Scott Kellermann said, “One of the reasons is our immunization rates are improving on a regular basis.”

Nevada County administered 1,901 vaccines over the last week — nearly 25% more than the week before — bringing the total number of doses delivered to 120,595. Over the course of last week, 529 people in the county became completely vaccinated, bringing that number up to 56,247.

As of Wednesday, according to the county’s Coronavirus Dashboard, western county has seen a total of over 6,900 cases, while eastern county has seen over 1,800 since the pandemic’s start.

When asked whether factors outside of population density have contributed to the chasm between the two sides’ caseloads, Kellermann said colleagues on Nevada County’s east side are observing the benefits of high rates of immunization and masking, as well as “compliance to personal protection,” resulting in lower transmission rates.

“It’s pretty obvious — if you get immunized and wear a mask and follow public health measures, then this virus is not going to spread as easily,” said Kellermann. “And, my view is eastern county has done a good job, and maybe we can learn a little bit from our neighbors across the Sierra.”

PLACER COUNTY

As of Thursday morning, Placer County reported 475 new cases, a 1% rise in cases from the prior week.

There were 19 recorded deaths caused by COVID-19 in Placer County last week, bringing the death toll to 424.

Placer County has distributed 495,468 vaccines since their introduction. Of the 7,477 shots administered, 1,766 were for those who became fully vaccinated over the week, bringing the number of fully vaccinated Placer County residents up to 233,380 people.

According to the health system’s website, anyone 12 years and older can schedule an appointment at MyTurn.ca.gov.

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