COVID-19 Deaths In Nevada On Track To More Than Triple By December Under Current Conditions

By Dana Gentry, The Nevada Current

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August 9, 2020

Deaths from Covid-19 are projected to more than triple in Nevada by December 1 under current conditions mandated by the state, according to a new calculation from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), an independent population health research center at the University of Washington. The facility’s projections are a key metric relied on by the White House.

With current mandates in place for social distancing and masks, IHME projects 3,152 Nevadans will have died of the disease by December 1. Since March, 920 deaths have been attributed to covid in the state. In April, the IHME predicted Nevada would suffer 800 deaths from the pandemic by August.

The new projection says the number of deaths could be slashed by almost a third if 95 percent of people wore masks whenever in public, with the mandate being reissued if daily deaths reach 8 per one million population.

Without social distancing and mask mandates continuing, the IHME projects Covid-19 will take some 4,831 lives in Nevada by December 1.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, 160,000 deaths in America have been attributed to the pandemic. The IHME projects the United States will suffer 295,000 deaths by December 1 if current conditions are observed. That number could be reduced to 228,271 with universal mask mandates in place, and could soar to 386,750 if social distancing and mask mandates currently in place are relaxed.

Not all models paint as bleak a picture as the IHME. A comparison of a variety of scearios can be found on the Centers for Disease Control’s website.

This story was originally published by the Nevada Current. For more stories from the Nevada Current, visit NevadaCurrent.com.