Washoe County’s proposed reopening plan failed Thursday to win Task Force approval, potentially delaying plans to reopen bars, restaurants and other businesses to 100 percent capacity on May 1.
Members of the Task Force indicated the other plans presented Thursday meet expectations and requirements laid out by the governor. That includes Douglas, Churchill, Nye, Elko, Eureka and Humboldt counties.
Washoe’s plan failed to get approval from the Washoe health district, Washoe County School District and city of Reno, all of which are required.
But Task Force Director Caleb Cage said the timing of the governor’s latest directive spelling out what counties must do to assume local control over pandemic restrictions came just minutes before the Washoe County Commission met to approve the plans, causing some serious confusion among commissioners and the entities that failed to endorse it. He said that puts part of the blame on himself and the state.
Governor’s General Counsel Kevin Benson said without task force approval, Washoe would still be limited to the current restrictions including businesses kept at 50 percent capacity, social distancing requirements and the 250-person limit on big events.
“Existing statewide measures would remain in place for Washoe County,” Benson advised Washoe officials.
For other counties that submitted plans with health and school endorsements, all those restrictions would be left up to the counties beginning May 1.
All other counties in the state will assume local control over dealing with the pandemic in May. The only restriction remaining will be the statewide mask mandate that the governor has said will continue for all of Nevada.
Cage said if the county can’t get sign-off from those three entities, those restrictions could potentially remain until June 1 when the governor has set them to expire.
Washoe Commission Chairman Bob Lucey and Assistant County Manager Dave Solaro asked if they could bring an amended plan with health district, school district and Reno support back to the Task Force in a few days and Cage said that would work since, “as far as the plan itself, I don’t see any issues.” He said Washoe can reopen as planned if it can submit an endorsed plan before May 1.
Lucey said Washoe remains committed to do the reopening in a safe and responsible manner and will return with a plan that meets requirements.
Clark County’s plan also won support from the Task Force but, unlike the other counties, Clark plans to keep social distancing requirements and limit capacity in businesses to 80 percent instead of 100 percent. Clark officials said they won’t go to 100 percent until vaccinations reach 60 percent of the population in Nevada’s most populous state, including in houses of worship.
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