County expects $448M in costs

Leaders discuss business return

Clark County is plotting how it will pay for an estimated $448 million in coronavirus-related costs it expects to incur through 2020, and also establishing a guide on how businesses may reopen safely.

Both plans, discussed at length Tuesday, speak to economic considerations for public and private sectors as they pivot from response into recovery.

Cost of the coronavirus

The county commission was presented with recommendations on how to use $295 million in federal relief funding allocated to it through the CARES Act to cover emergency-related costs.

It has committed $19.1 million, either already paid or under contract, to the coronavirus pandemic thus far, according to a county document. The largest commitment is $5.6 million on the homeless ISO-Q (isolation/quarantine) complex at Cashman Field, which is expected to ultimately cost the county $13.5 million.

Between March 1 and Dec. 30, the period eligible for federal funding, the county expects total coronavirus-related costs to come close to $500 million, with $121.5 million recommended toward human service programs such as basic needs assistance and emergency shelters.

Nearly $30 million is recommended for emergency medical care and $21.3 million for coordinated testing sites, according to the county.

Certain programs may be eligible through other funding sources such as grants, officials said.

But county lawmakers

from his home, where he is self-isolating after possible exposure to the respiratory virus.

The reservation’s current population was not clear Tuesday as a request for comment from the Tribal Council was not immediately returned. But according to the tribe’s website, roughly 1,300 people lived on the reservation as of February 2017.

“Our numbers have gone up really quickly in a short amount of time, which means that the virus is moving,” Dawna Brown, director of Pyramid Lake Tribal Health Clinic, said Friday in another video briefing with Sampson.

The first case on the reservation was announced April 1.

Of the 20 confirmed cases, 14 — or 70 percent — were in Nixon, though only about 33 percent of the reservation’s population lived in Nixon as of 2017. Four cases were in Sutcliffe and two in Wadsworth. As of Friday, Brown said, there had been no reported COVID-19 deaths on the reservation, and at least one person had recovered from the virus.

On March 16, the Tribal Council declared a state of emergency, and a 10 p.m.-5 a.m curfew was later instituted. The tribe also has banned nontribal members from all recreational activities on the reservation, according to the declaration.

“We tried to warn you guys about moving around, and nobody’s listening,” Sampson said Tuesday in his video update. “I’m astounded by the lack of understanding from everybody out there that’s not adhering to what’s going on around us. All I can say is, people, please, the tribal government has asked you to stay home. Your Tribal Council has voted to put these orders in place.”

Pausing briefly, Sampson shook his head.

“I’m pleading with you people out there,” he said. “This is not a laughing matter. This is not a drill.”

There had been no confirmed cases on the Walker River Paiute Tribe reservation, about 80 miles east of Carson City, as of Friday, according to an update posted to the tribe’s Facebook page.

It was not clear Tuesday whether any members of the Las Vegas Paiute Tribe had been diagnosed with COVID-19. The tribe did not respond to a request for comment.

Contact Rio Lacanlale at rlacanlale@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0381. Follow @riolacanlale on Twitter.