Churchill County, area updates on COVID-19

The following is a recap of either procedures implemented by various agencies or additional information regarding COVID-19.

Banner Health:

Banner Health has developed a process to safely screen patients for COVID-19 in their primary care clinics. In order to be screened in one of these clinics, patients would need to meet CDC criteria for testing. This can be determined through a phone conversation with one of our team members.

If you or a loved one has concerning symptoms, please call your primary care doctor’s office to discuss your symptoms and determine if in-person evaluation or testing is necessary. If you do not have a primary care doctor and would like to establish care with Banner, visit Find a Doctor tool on BannerHealth.com.

Patients that meet criteria for further in-person evaluation or testing will be scheduled for an appointment to be seen at one of our clinics and provided with instructions for how to safely enter the building in cooperation with the on-site medical team.

Renown Health:

Renown Health is prepared to safely screen, diagnose and care for patients with respiratory illness, including coronavirus (COVID-19). If you are experiencing respiratory symptoms, call 775-982-5000 to be directed to the appropriate level of care. This phone screening is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week and is offered free by Renown Health to our community.

Additionally, out of an abundance of caution, Renown staff are performing respiratory illness screenings at the entrances of all of our Renown Medical Group Locations to ensure the safety of our patients, staff and community.

Renown physicians and staff routinely practice for the potential of infectious disease outbreaks in our community to ensure we are prepared, working in collaboration with the Washoe County Health District and community partners.

Where particular public health risks are identified, we monitor the situation to ensure prevention and preparation strategies are the most contemporary, based on the most current clinical standards and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines.

Upholding patient confidentiality is a fundamental obligation for all health care providers and we will not be providing details about patients under our care.

As always, prevention is key, and we stress the importance of always using proper hand hygiene and respiratory etiquette.

NAS Fallon

Naval Air Station Fallon reports Friday morning eight individuals are in self-quarantine.

They had traveled to the United States from Bahrain, but because they transited through Germany, the individuals have been told not to report for duty.

NAS Fallon said the individuals are not showing any symptoms of COVID-19 at this time.

Navy Region Southwest installations, including NAS Fallon, are in Health Protection Condition Alpha in response to the spread of COVID-19.

To help prevent the potential spread of the virus among visitors to our installations, our security forces are implementing "no-touch" ID checks at all access points onto and within the installations.

Personnel accessing the installations and other entry control points should be prepared to maintain possession of their IDs while the gate guards view or scan them for access verification. The Navy apologizes for any delays in access, or increased traffic, that this may cause.

This change in procedures is precautionary to protect the health and safety of all visitors and Navy personnel.

Recommendations for our Sailors/Marines/Civilians and their families as well as the community at large (These are supported by the Center for Disease Control).

General Preventive Health Steps in the current health climate:

- If you are sick with respiratory symptoms, please stay home. They are likely caused by a communicable virus (more likely due to influenza or other respiratory viruses than to a COVID-19-related virus).

- Cough/Sneeze Etiquette— Please cover your cough and/or sneeze with a tissue, then throw it in the trash can. Another option is to sneeze into your elbow.

- Good Hand Hygiene— Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, especially after contact with sick people or surfaces around sick people, after going to the bathroom, before eating, and after blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing. Viruses like flu or corona virus or other respiratory viruses are spread by reaching our mucous membranes (e.g., mouth, nose, eyes, etc.).

- Facemasks should be used (if available) by people who show respiratory illness to help prevent the spread of disease to others.

- If soap and water are not readily available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60%-95% alcohol.

- Routinely clean your environment— routine cleaning can cut down transmission from frequently touched surfaces and objects.

Vigilance and regular use of these methods by our Sailors/Marines/Civilians and their families will increase our resilience and readiness for responding to an outbreak.

Lincoln Day Dinner cancelled

The Churchill County Republicans have cancelled the annual Fallon Lincoln Day Dinner is now cancelled. They may reschedule at a later date if possible.

The Churchill County Republican Central Committee will be handling refunds as soon as possible. We apologize for such late notice.

The Churchill County Republicans is still planning to hold the precinct meetings and the county convention as planned. Should circumstances change those dates and times could be altered.

University of Nevada, Reno

RENO, Nevada – Acting in an effort to promote the health and safety of its students, faculty, staff and the community it serves, the University of Nevada, Reno made the decision today to enact alternate operations in a number of key areas.

Although the University is not closing campus, it is making a concerted effort to greatly reduce the collection of people on campus in order to diminish the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19). As of today, there are no confirmed cases of coronavirus on campus.

These decisions have been informed by the dynamic and ever-changing nature of the outbreak of coronavirus throughout the world and in the United States. They have been made in consultation with campus administration, the Nevada System of Higher Education and the University’s partners in the public health community, including the Washoe County Health District and State of Nevada Public Behavioral Health.

The University will begin online delivery of all for-credit academic courses Monday, March 23, the week following Spring Break. The University has compiled an extensive list of resources to assist in delivering courses online. All faculty, staff, and students have access to Zoom Pro, an enterprise video conferencing platform with real-time messaging and content sharing.

The University is also directing all students to remain home and not return to campus following the completion of Spring Break March 22, until further notice. If students who are currently residing in residence halls do not have the option to remain home following the completion of Spring Break, they should contact University Residential Life and Housing immediately at 775-784-1113.

Students who have employment on campus should work with their supervisors to determine flexible arrangements regarding their pay and expected duties.

The University is directing the campus to cancel or postpone all public or special events with planned attendance of more than 150 people and to offer refund options, effective March 13. This directive shall be in place until further notice.

With recommendations from the Center for Disease Control and the U.S. Department of State’s issuance of a Global Travel 3 alert, the University is suspending all University-supported international travel and non-essential domestic travel by University employees and students. Domestic travel essential to University operations must be authorized by the traveler’s supervisor.

The University has created a Novel Coronavirus Information Page, which is updated regularly. The page contains the latest information and includes a variety of sources, as well as tips for faculty, students and staff regarding issues that could arise from coronavirus.

Administrative faculty, classified staff, student employees, postdoctoral scholars, temporary hourly and medical residents should report to work per their normal schedule. All employee types may discuss the possibility of working remotely with their supervisor.

For those experiencing anxiety or stress, the University has resources to help faculty, staff, students and its campus community navigate this challenging time. Self-care is an important consideration. Students in need of Counseling Services can call 775-784-4648. Employees in need of counseling can contact Human Resources, 775-784-6082.

For any questions regarding this shift in operations, the University has set up a 24-hour information line at 775-682-9900.

The University continues to review and adapt its planning and strategies as more is learned every day and will continue to communicate the latest developments on this important topic.

Churchill County School District

We are going to provide you with the most up to date information on the COVID-19 virus and current pandemic as it impacts ChurchillCSD.

To avoid confusion and misinformation, please continue to rely on the official information coming from Dr. Stephens through official district communication channels. If you know of any parents/families that are not receiving district communication through phone calls, emails, or texts, please ask them to contact the Superintendent’s office at 775-423-5184 to update their information.

At this time, we have not been notified of any confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Churchill County. That can change at any moment, and the district will continue to communicate current school statuses.

The Churchill County School District does have two staff members who are in doctor-directed quarantines that have NOT TESTED POSITIVE.

Please continue to encourage all of your family members to wash their hands with soap and water and use sanitizer when water is not available. Also, continue to practice health hygiene by covering coughs and reminding others to do so.

All staff are working diligently as a team to ensure we are frequently sanitizing all high-touch hard surfaces throughout the day.

We will be making a change to Parent-Teacher Conferences next week. We are going to utilize phone-based parent conferences next week in place of in-person meetings. Please watch for school-specific plans for conferences through district communication channels. We appreciate your support and flexibility with this change.

Staff and students with a sore throat with a persistent cough, a persistent cough, or fever over 100 degrees will be sent home and are required to stay home until symptoms have resolved. We will continue to monitor attendance and work with families. Should absences reach levels warranting additional meetings, the schools will work with families individually.

Ongoing coordination among the state’s superintendents and other agencies may result in changes to afterschool and co-curricular activities, which may include games, practices, events, etc.

ChurchillCSD district officials will continue to keep you updated on any changes that may occur. Thank you for your support of our district, our schools, our students, and our teachers and staff.

From the school district this morning after we reached out: "The parent teacher conference change is to ensure that we reduce the number of visitors to our schools. We understand this may create concerns, and we apologize for any inconvenience."

Pennington Life Center

Precautionary move aims to help protect county’s most vulnerable population from COVID-19

Fallon, NV – Churchill County officials made the decision today to reduce or modify services at its William N. Pennington Life Center, effective immediately.

This decision was made in an abundance of caution and to protect the county’s vulnerable population of senior citizens vis-à-vis COVID-19.

Effective immediately at the Life Center and until further notice:

• The lobby area, front desk and dining room are closed. For those who come to the dining room for their mid-day meal, a drive-through meal service will be set up under the portico at the front entrance and packaged meals will be handed out starting on March 13 from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

• All recreational classes and activities are cancelled.

• Meals On Wheels home meal delivery will not be affected at this time.

• The beauty salon, as a private business, remains open at this time.

• Those with questions are encouraged to contact the Life Center at (775)423-7096 as phones will be staffed.

“Churchill County wants to be out in front of the COVID-19 issue. Protecting a vulnerable population is top-most in our minds and this concern led to our decision to reduce activities at the Life Center,” said Jim Barbee, county manager.

Information on Churchill County actions regarding COVID-19 may be found on its website at: www.churchillcounty.org/covid-19 This page is updated regularly as information becomes available.

Currently, there are no known positive cases of COVID-19 in Churchill County.

NIAA Hall of Fame dinner

The NIAA Hall of Fame dinner has been moved to September 21 due to the coronavirus.

Vietnam Veterans event cancelled

The Vietnam War Veteran's Remembrance Day set for March 28 at Truckee Meadows Community College in Reno has been cancelled due to concerns for the COVID-19 or Coronavirus.

Fake email

There is an fake email circulating that is pretending to be the live map for Johns Hopkins University. If you visit the website it infects your computer with AZORult Trojan.

An information stealing program, which can exfiltrate a variety of sensitive data. It can be spread by infected email attachments.

Searching for information about the corona virus could unwittingly navigate to this malicious site.

Be cautious and don’t open email attachments you aren’t expecting. If you know the sender you may want to call the person and ask if they sent it.