Vaccinations are the watch word

Medical science, like actual life, is messy, and this last year has seen it playing out in real time, which doesn’t help improve the picture much.

It was just last weekend that the Federal Emergency Management Administration mobile vaccination unit conducted 277 one-shot Janssen vaccinations in Topaz Ranch Estates.

Because it only required one dose, the vaccine made by Johnson & Johnson, was the best suited for the mobile unit.

Then on Monday, concerns about a half-dozen blood clots among the 6-some million vaccines resulted in a nationwide pause in its use while researchers conduct a review.

The issue is that while the number of clots are similar to the average in the general population, these clots aren’t reacting properly to the usual treatments and they’re among younger women.

Due to the pause, both the mobile vaccination unit and local health authorities are pivoting shots to Pfizer or Moderna, which means a second dose for those who’d hoped to get one and done.

But that’s how it has gone with the coronavirus outbreak over the past 13 months. Something that’s fine one day is an issue the next.

Statewide social distancing mandates are supposed to dissipate on May 1 and the goal is to have all Nevada counties open to 100 percent capacity by June 1.

County commissioners are scheduled to discuss a plan to take back local control over such things as mass gatherings at their regular meeting today.

The plan has been in the works for weeks and is required by the state before authority over events returns to the county.

One thing the county doesn’t have any authority over is the mask mandate, and that doesn’t sound like it’s going away in the next few weeks, at least.

The county doesn’t regulate businesses much. Douglas doesn’t have a business license division and it contracts its health inspections to Carson City Health and Human Services. Most business regulation here is done by the state. The Gaming Control Board regulates the casinos, while businesses are subject to Nevada OSHA regulations.

Like most of the pandemic, things will be what they are until they aren’t. In the meantime, vaccinations and caution are the watch words.