CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) - Nevada doctors and dentists may soon resume medical and dental procedures that are considered necessary but were delayed because of the coronavirus.
Gov. Steve Sisolak released a statement Tuesday night announcing that the Nevada Hospital Association will phase-in procedures while trying to minimize the risk of transmitting the coronavirus to patients and healthcare workers and maintaining enough capacity in hospitals to handle any increase in COVID-19 cases.
Sisolak’s office said the state Department of Health and Human Services will release a memo to dentists describing a way to phase in dental services dealing with acute infections or the progression of chronic disease.
Patients might see changes at their appointments, including screening questions and temperature checks before entering the office, closed waiting rooms and requests to wash their hands our rinse their mouth.
The governor’s office did not offer details about when more medical and dental procedures, including elective procedures, might resume.
Nevada health officials reported 225 deaths statewide from the coronavirus outbreak Tuesday evening.
The department also reported at total of more than 4,800 case of COVID-19.
Most people with the virus experience symptoms such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. Older adults and people with existing health problems can face severe illness, including pneumonia, and death.
In other developments:
- Roy Horn, one half of the longtime Las Vegas illusionist duo Siegfried & Roy, has tested positive for COVID-19, according to a spokesman. Dave Kirvin said in a statement that Horn is responding well to treatment and that Horn and business partner Siegfried Fischbacher “sent positive wishes to everyone impacted by the pandemic.” Horn was injured by a tiger during a live Siegfried & Roy performance at The Mirage hotel-casino in Las Vegas in 2003, leaving Horn partially paralyzed and ending the duo’s successful show.
- The head of the state agency under a deluge of unemployment claims is resigning and will be replaced by Heather Korbulic, who has been overseeing the state’s online health insurance exchange. Sisolak’s office announced Korbulic’s appointment Tuesday as interim director of the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation, replacing Tiffany Tyler-Garner. Sisolak said in a statement that he wished Tyler-Garner well “as she pursues new opportunities.” The Reno Gazette Journal reports Tyler-Garner resigned this week.
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