Connect with us

Nevada

Nevada is years away from healing COVID wounds, report says

Published

on

Nevada is years away from healing COVID wounds, report says


(The Center Square) – A newly released report from the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services (NV DHHS) said it may take a long time to recover from the economic, education and behavioral health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

While states have comparable stories, Nevada had over 900,000 cases, and more than 12,000 people died in the state.

Meanwhile, businesses were shuttered, especially in 2020, after Gov. Steve Sisolak declared a state of emergency.

Jobs and wages suffered as a result.

Advertisement

The damage was so extensive that researchers say “most industrial sectors were negatively impacted by the number of jobs and wages that were lost due to these closures.”

Even though remote learning helped combat the spread of COVID-19, NV DHHS said it caused problems for school-age children.

While states have comparable stories, Nevada had over 900,000 cases, and more than 12,000 people died in the state. AP

“The impact of remote learning can be seen through student’s assessment results on the NAEP and the ACT,” says the report. 

“Symptoms of the Disease: The Epidemiological, Economic, and Public Health Impacts of COVID-19 on the Battle Born State.”

Students in elementary school had the biggest problems, with scores dropping just over six points for fourth graders. Middle and high school students were also found to have been negatively impacted by COVID-19, but NV DHHS says it was not to the same extent.

Advertisement

Geoffrey Lawrence, Director of Research at Nevada Policy Research Institute, said restrictions on personal freedom implemented by then-Gov. Steve Sisolak represented a panicked attempt by his administration to respond to one type of risk while ignoring all other risks.

“In reality, we live in a world of numerous uncertainties, but people have been able to adapt to these uncertainties by developing elaborate, entrepreneurial systems to produce and deliver to people the things they need to overcome the challenges presented by the natural world,” said Lawrence.


Hotel-casinos on the Las Vegas Strip including (L-R) the Tropicana Las Vegas, the New York-New York Hotel & Casino, Park MGM, MGM Grand Hotel & Casino and The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas are shown as the coronavirus continues to spread across the United States on March 15, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Meanwhile, businesses were shuttered, especially in 2020, after Gov. Steve Sisolak declared a state of emergency. Getty Images

In pre-modern times, Lawrence says pestilence, famine and disease were all quite common events, to say nothing of the reduced quality of life individuals experienced for lack of education, individual rights, or material abundance.

Nevada’s response to the pandemic harkened back to this pre-modernity by embracing what Lawrence calls “fear of a new uncertainty as a rationale to break all the systems society has developed” to grapple with these many other existing uncertainties.

“It’s therefore no surprise that economic uncertainty abounded, student achievement plummeted, deaths of despair surged, and hundreds of thousands of previously self-sufficient Nevadans were left to rely on a dysfunctional public support system that couldn’t even process claims timely just to meet their basic needs,” said Lawrence. 

“A better role for government during COVID would always have been to advise and inform of the risks inherent with the disease so that free individuals could take the precautions they deemed necessary.”

Advertisement

For example, Lawrence said it was known very early on that people had different risk profiles based on things such as age and health status.

They also had different risk tolerance. 

Because of this, Lawrence argues that an informed populace would have been able to weigh this new risk against a wide variety of existing risks we all face on a daily basis.

“Elderly individuals and those with existing comorbidities could have been encouraged to take extra precaution, without prohibiting young children from attending school, for instance.”

Advertisement



Source link

Nevada

Cold Front Brings Strong Wind, Cooler Temperatures to Las Vegas

Published

on

Cold Front Brings Strong Wind, Cooler Temperatures to Las Vegas


LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — A cold front moving into Southern Nevada will bring strong wind, cooler temperatures and several days of unsettled weather.

Thursday and Friday are First Alert Weather Days, with the strongest wind expected late Thursday night into early Friday morning. A Wind Advisory will go into effect at 11 am Thursday through 5 am Friday.

EN ESPAÑOL: Un frente frío trae vientos fuertes y temperaturas más frescas al sur de Nevada

On Thursday, southwesterly wind will increase throughout the day, before shifting out of the north. Gusts will reach 30 to 40 mph across most areas, with higher gusts in elevated terrain. The high in Las Vegas will reach 82° Thursday.

Advertisement

The strongest wind will follow the front, with northerly wind strengthening late Thursday into Friday morning.

The front will also bring cooler air into the region, dropping temperatures from top to bottom on Friday. The high will drop to 69°, with the wind backing off to more of a breeze by Friday afternoon.

Conditions will improve over the weekend as high pressure builds. Highs will reach 78° Saturday and 86° Sunday with lighter wind.

Another system arrives early next week. Monday and Tuesday are also First Alert Weather Days, with highs of 87° and 80°, bringing renewed wind and a slight chance of showers by midweek.

Advertisement



Source link

Continue Reading

Nevada

Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada marks 85 years, now serving 4,500 daily

Published

on

Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada marks 85 years, now serving 4,500 daily


Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada is marking 85 years of service on April 16th, a milestone that leaders say reflects both the organization’s growth and the region’s ongoing needs.

The nonprofit says it traces its early roots to Northern Nevada and later expanded into Southern Nevada to help people after the building of the Hoover Dam. Historical photos from the organization show its footprint widening over the decades as Las Vegas grew.

Today, Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada operates 16 programs and serves about 4,500 individuals every day, according to President and CEO Sara Ramirez, who adds the organization’s work is driven by three core values: families, food, and housing.

“No one promised us an easy life. If you have a solid family base around or support system around you, you’re more likely to overcome the crisis and not only overcome but overcome it quickly back to a state of normalcy,” Ramirez said.

Advertisement

On food security, Ramirez said, “Food is life and that is imperative regardless of whether your are a newborn child or a senior in our Meals on Wheels program.”

For housing stability, Ramirez noted the 400-bed men’s shelter and the St. Vincent Apartments, a 120-unit apartment complex on the Catholic Charities campus that provides a place to stay for people who are unhoused or facing housing instability.

The anniversary comes as Clark County awaits results from the annual point-in-time count, a census of people living without a permanent home that took place in January. The last census found nearly 8,000 people experiencing homelessness on a single night.

While the official count is still being tallied, Nicole Anderson, vice president of social services, described what she witnessed during the count.

“To go out in the community at 4, 5 in the morning, and intentionally look for people and see the areas they’re sleeping in; to see a young woman, under a blanket in a corner because that’s the only place she can stay warm, it’s heartbreaking,” Anderson said.

Advertisement

Anderson spoke with us in a classroom. “Clients work off these computers,” she said, describing the space where people can learn — or in some cases re-learn — employment skills, including how to interview, as they work to regain stability.

“They have to be ready, seeing them, make those changes and be confident again, and lean on these case managers and on each other, there’s a cool thing that happens naturally and organically,” Anderson said.

Ramirez also described what she called a growing trend of older people experiencing homelessness and shared what a daily meal can mean for someone struggling. “He had shared, Sara, my life is hard but for one hour every day, I can come to the dining hall, find a meal and find peace,” Ramirez said.



Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Nevada

Enrollment period almost over for Nevada’s prepaid tuition program

Published

on

Enrollment period almost over for Nevada’s prepaid tuition program


The enrollment period for the Nevada prepaid tuition program is almost over.

Wednesday, April 15, is the final day to create an account for the current enrollment period.

It’s a chance for parents to jumpstart their children’s education by starting to save now.

Nevada State Treasurer Zach Conine joined us to talk more about how you can lock in future tuition at today’s rates.

Advertisement
Comment with Bubbles

BE THE FIRST TO COMMENT

Visit nvigate.gov to learn more and to open your account.



Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Trending