County, state COVID-19 numbers both show sharp increase
The numbers of new COVID-19 cases in Clark County and the state spiked Tuesday to their highest levels in 2½ weeks.
The county recorded 207 new cases of the disease caused by the new coronavirus over the preceding day, the Southern Nevada Health District reported on its coronavirus web page, the highest figure since it reported 233 cases on May 22. That pushed the case total for the county to 7,799, of which 5,950 people have recovered, according to a district estimate.
“As businesses began to reopen in Nevada and throughout the country and as testing resources became more accessible and more people were getting tested, we anticipated that cases of coronavirus would increase,” health district spokeswoman Jennifer Sizemore said.
No cause for alarm
One public health authority said that single-day increases such as those reported by the district and the state, which added more than 240 new cases, is not cause for alarm, given that case totals fluctuate widely from day to day.
“You can’t just look at a single-day spike,” said UNLV School of Public Health assistant professor Brian Labus, noting it’s important to instead look at data trends over longer periods of time.
“A single day of data doesn’t mean a whole lot,” said Labus, a member of the governor’s medical advisory team.
The spike comes as neighboring Arizona and Utah have seen sharp rises in case numbers since the beginning of June, according to Johns Hopkins University. Both are among the 22 states experiencing increases in their numbers of new cases, according to the university’s coronavirus tracking data.
It also occurs weeks after Nevada began relaxing closures of “nonessential”
report.
During a search of one defendant’s home, investigators found handwritten notes of military tactics and possible scouting routes and locations, along with “kill boxes,” survival tactics, fireworks, a bomb and booby traps, the report states.
The three men are expected to “face additional criminal charges” as the investigation proceeds and digital evidence is reviewed, the report states.
Dickerson declined to discuss the case outside the courtroom Tuesday, and Sullivan would not allow livestreaming of the court proceeding.
Parshall’s co-defendants — Andrew Lynam, 23, and William L. Loomis, 40 — are also facing terrorism and explosives charges and separate federal felony charges stemming from the alleged conspiracy uncovered by FBI agents who had infiltrated the right-wing extremist group.
All three men, who have military backgrounds, caught the attention of authorities during rallies in April and May against the state’s COVID-19 business shutdown. Lynam and Loomis also are behind bars on $1 million bail.
Their arrests are the first in the country of far-right extremists accused of planning to cause harm at the Black Lives Matter protests, according to Joanna Mendelson, associate director of the Center on Extremism for the Anti-defamation League.
The boogaloo movement, which believes in an impending civil war and ultimate societal collapse, is decentralized, with no national leaders, and largely organizes and recruits on social media.
In court Tuesday, Parshall was dressed in black jail garb and chains and was wearing thick black mitts as a safety measure to further inhibit his movements. Two uniformed police officers stood next to him throughout the hearing, as his lawyer Robert Draskovich argued for his release to house arrest.
Parshall looked straight ahead and showed no emotion as his mother watched from the gallery.
Draskovich contended that Parshall has no previous criminal record and was a student majoring in geology at the College of Southernnevadawhenheandhistwo co-defendants were arrested by FBI agents on May 30. Draskovich said last week that his client has no affiliation with any right-wing groups.
The lawyer questioned the credibility of the information provided by a confidential FBI informant during the undercover investigation.
But Dickerson argued that there was little doubt that Parshall had been actively recruiting people to commit acts of terrorism in Las Vegas.
“He is such an extreme danger to this community that there is nothing else that can protect this community other than detention, other than bail that is that high,” Dickerson said.
The prosecutor told Sullivan that Parshall also is a danger to his children, saying his four daughters had to be removed from his home by child protective services when investigators searched the home.
Dickerson would not discuss a separate investigation into that matter. But, he said, “the house was in disarray, garbage on the floor. It wasn’t appropriate for the kids to be living there.”
Undercover FBI agents learned that Parshall and his co-defendants were planning to firebomb an NV Energy substation on May 28 to create unrest in Las Vegas, according to the federal complaint.
But the men instead sought to disrupt the Black Lives Matter protests. Agents arrested the trio before a May 30 demonstration downtown after they learned that the men were prepared to toss Molotov cocktails at police, the complaint alleges.
FBI agents had the men under surveillance at the time and swooped in “to preserve life and property” at the protest, the arrest report states. Both the confidential informant and an undercover FBI agent were with the defendants whentheywerearrested.
A preliminary hearing is set for all three defendants on June 17 before Sullivan to determine whether the case should be sent to Clark County District Court for trial.
Contact Jeff German at jgerman@ reviewjournal.com or 702-3804564. Follow @Jgermanrj on Twitter. German is a member of the Review-journal’s investigative team, focusing on reporting that holds leaders and agencies accountable and exposes wrongdoing. Support our journalism.