Another pandemic was raging when Dorthella Silva was born 102 years ago.
The Great Influenza was still raging in that winter of 1918-19, and unlike Sunday, there wasn’t a vaccine.
A native Nevadan, Silva was born in Mina, but today she lives at The Chateau at Gardnerville.
On Sunday, a television news crew turned up for the clinic that saw 99 percent of the around 100 residents of the Chateau vaccinated, according to Marketing Director Jessica Maidlow.
Silva is the oldest resident of the Chateau. Her brother Norm owned the land where Topaz Ranch Estates now sits.
Vaccinations at care homes across Nevada were conducted by private pharmacies in partnership with their operators.
As of Wednesday, the Centers for Disease Control reported Nevada received 417,875 doses of vaccine and has administered 279,471 across the state. Nevada remains second to last in the number of doses received at 13,567 per 100,000 residents, according to covid.cdc.gov.
The state reported receiving 324,275 doses as of Feb. 1. Some doses the CDC reports sending to Nevada go to private pharmacies, which have also been inoculating residents 70 years and older.
Nevada is home to 3 million people and those 70 or older account for around 500,000. Educators are also covered under the current vaccination cadre.
Closer to home, Carson City Health and Human Services reported receiving 8,775 doses of the coronavirus vaccine so far, and administering 8,704 doses.
“This does not include other vaccinations by other entities in the Quad-County Region,” Health and Human Services spokeswoman Jessica Rapp said on Tuesday.
Currently available vaccinations require an initial shot and a booster.
Reservations for the first shot set up the second around three weeks later to ensure effectiveness.
Only a fraction of Douglas County residents have received their first dose and even fewer have received the second dose.
Health officials are warning residents not to become complacent just yet.
On Tuesday, Alpine County Public Health Officer Richard Johnson announced the tiny California county has been moved to a less restrictive orange tier. Alpine is one of only three counties in California to drop into the moderate level and Johnson said it has the best numbers in the Golden State.
“I give full credit to all individuals who use the tools in our toolkit to prevent COVID-19 illness in our community, including masking, social distancing, hand-washing and minimizing gatherings, especially indoors,” he said. “I also applaud businesses, as they do everything they can to protect both their employees and their customers.”
In the Silver State, the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services has launched a vaccination call center to answer questions and assist those who may need help making an appointment. Through the call center Nevadans will be able to access county-specific updates and information as more Nevadans become eligible to receive the vaccine.
The call center is open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. seven days a week and can be reached at 1-800-401-0946.
For those with internet access, the Department of Health and Human Services continues to encourage residents to go online to find the latest information on vaccinations through
NVCOVIDFighter.org and
NVHealthResponse.nv.govWith news of a vaccine, fewer residents have been turning up for community testing events.
On Wednesday morning, an event at the Douglas County Community & Senior Center had only 67 participants.
Testing continues to be one of the criteria used by the state.
Free community testing returns to the Community Center 9-11 a.m. Feb. 16.
