Fewer people are being tested for coronavirus now that the winter wave of infections is behind us, but authorities still want Nevadans to get tested to help identify and stop more transmissions.
The decline in testing has not yet hampered the state’s ability to determine the spread of COVID-19, authorities said. But they note that getting tested will allow contact trackers to identify infected people and their close contacts to help prevent another spike in cases.
“We are now at a point where we can be successful again with contact tracing,” said state biostatistician Kyra Morgan. “We had a lag where we were in this case wildfire and we found that it wasn’t practical for us to do a lot of contact tracing because there was a lot of community spread.”
Public health officials want counties to perform an average of at least 100 tests per day, for every 100,000 people, over a two-week period.
Clark County is well above the threshold for testing officials want to see, taking an average of more than 200 tests per 100,000 people in a two-week period. Test averages across the state are on the same level.
Morgan said demand for testing is driven by case rates in communities.
“So when you look at the trend at a high level, you definitely see how it can be interpreted as a pause in testing,” he said. “But it really is in line with the fact that we have fewer people in the community who are sick and have symptoms. And that precipitates that there are fewer people looking for evidence.
Brian Labus, a UNLV epidemiologist on the medical team advising Governor Steve Sisolak, stated that decreasing the disease in the community is one part of it.
“But the other part is that people seem to have stopped being interested in testing and are completely focused on vaccination,” he added.
And despite encouraging measurements of the disease, COVID-19 continues to circulate in Nevada.
“If people have stopped getting tested, our data does not reflect our reality and we need that reality to know where we are and where we are going,” Labus said.
Caleb Cage, director of COVID-19 response in Nevada, added that testing and contact tracing remain a critical part of the state’s response to the pandemic.
Until there is a herd immunity, the virus will continue to spread, leaving unvaccinated people who may be vulnerable at significantly higher risk, Cage said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention alleges that anyone experiencing COVID-19 symptoms or participating in high-risk activities that do not allow for distancing should be tested.
People who have had close contact with a person whose infection has been confirmed should also be tested, according to the CDC. Fully vaccinated people who are exposed to an infected person do not need to be tested if they do not have symptoms.
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