One Nevada County Has Declared COVID Misinformation A 'Public Health Crisis'

Nevada's largest county has declared misinformation about the coronavirus a "public health crisis."

Clark County, home to Las Vegas, adopted the resolution earlier this week. Officials said false information has only made the pandemic more difficult.

"COVID-19 has had a devastating impact on our economy, our children's education, and the health and safety of our community, and the spread of false and misleading information has only made matters worse," Clark County Commissioner Justin Jones said in a statement.

"It's important for our governing board to declare health misinformation as a public health crisis and commit to doing all we can to combat the falsehoods that continue to jeopardize the lives of our citizens," Jones added.

The resolution said misinformation has "significantly undermined" the community's trust and efforts by health officials to mitigate the virus.

Nearly 398,000 cases of the virus have been recorded in Clark County since the outbreak began last year. Approximately 6,604 residents have died due to COVID-19 as of the beginning of September.

The resolution makes clear that the Pfizer vaccine has full approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and that all residents ages 12 and over are eligible to receive the shot at no cost.

Officials said that false information has led to eligible people declining the vaccine and ignoring public health measures such as masking and social distancing, as well as using unproven treatments.

A handful of other counties across the U.S. have officially declared COVID-19 misinformation a crisis. The board of San Diego County in California adopted a resolution on September 1. Officials in Jefferson County, Washington did so last week, stating that false information "is a moral and civic imperative that will require a whole-of-society effort."

The U.S. Surgeon General in July described misinformation about COVID-19 as an "urgent threat" that puts "lives at risk."

Nevada's daily case totals fell below 1,000 for the first time in six weeks, according to data released on Wednesday. The daily case total was 824, and Clark County reported 352 cases—the lowest for the area since early July.

About 2.2 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine have been administered throughout Nevada, with 55 percent of the state's population initiating vaccination.

Roughly 45 percent of Nevadans are fully inoculated against the disease, and 53 percent of those age 12 and older have been vaccinated, according to the most recent available data from state officials.

Newsweek reached out to the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services for comment on Clark County's resolution, but didn't receive a response before publication.