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News & Events
University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine
• The Nevada Independent
Mark Pandori is the director of the Nevada State Public Health Lab located at the University of Nevada, Reno. He has regularly been talking to The Nevada Independent about the novel coronavirus and the state’s testing efforts, and this week we talked to him once again as Nevada begins to create its own tests and collection kits as the national supply runs dry.
• KUNR
As the novel coronavirus threatens health care capacity in Nevada, more doctors are turning to telehealth to stem the spread of infection. While virtual visits are recommended, there are challenges to this type of care, especially in rural communities.
• Las Vegas Review Journal
The Nevada CAN website, for Nevada COVID-19 Aging Network, is “focused on maintaining the quality of life for the 454,221 homebound elders in Nevada,” its homepage reads. The state division worked with the University of Nevada, Reno, School of Medicine, as well as Nevada Senior Services and Nevada 2-1-1 to develop the site and its offerings.
• KNPR
Shortages of providers, facilities, and equipment helped earn the state a D+ grade in Rural Health Quarterly’s most recent annual report card. Now some of the most remote communities in the nation are bracing for a pandemic for which they might not be prepared.
• KLAS 8 News Now Las Vegas
Nevada is one of several states chosen to fast track testing, meaning it can approve testing without the federal government. Last week, the I-Team interviewed Dr. Mark Pandori, director of the Nevada State Public Health Lab, who explained how this testing will help.
• Nevada Current
normally, this sort of analysis would be useful for identifying things like point sources,” says Pandori. “But I’m presently hypothesizing that the virus arrived in the U.S. from multiple locations worldwide. Nevada, therefore, could be a miniature version of that. We’ll see.”
• Reno Gazette Journal
“If you go and look at the numbers, you are seeing more positives in recent days," said Dr. Mark Pandori, director of the Nevada State Public Health Laboratory. "We could very well be headed towards that steep curve." But who is sick and what that could mean to Nevada's medical system is a guess. “You need to make that transition at some point from strictly testing certain people to starting to look more broadly because this thing is going to spread from cryptic cases you haven’t identified," Pandori said.
• This is Reno
Nevada’s Covid-19 cases are projected to peak mid-April. The independent Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), part of the University of Washington, has state-by-state coronavirus projections that include the number of ventilators needed, ICU bed availability and projected deaths from COVID-19.
• Las Vegas Review Journal
Six weeks into coronavirus testing, Nevada health officials still don’t have enough kits to track the spread of the disease and hopefully slow the outbreak.
• KLAS 8 News Now Las Vegas
Nevada is one of several states to approve and fast track testing for COVID-19. The I-Team spoke with the director of the Nevada Public Health Lab, one leader who has been part of the planning. Dr. Mark Pandori said we could see developments by the end of the week as the state tries to approve new tests. In the meantime, the public health lab in Reno, which he directs, is busy with testing.
• KLAS 8 News Now Las Vegas
Nevada is one of several states to approve and fast track testing for COVID-19. The I-Team talked with the director of the Nevada Public Health Lab. Dr. Mark Pandori has been one of the leaders who has been a part of the planning.
• KRNV Channel 4 News
The Food and Drug Administration has granted Nevada permission to develop, assess and conduct its own COVID-19 testing, according to the Nevada Health Response. Dr. Mark Pandori, director of the Nevada State Public Health Laboratory, said the change will allow the state to determine whether products associated with testing are safe and effective for testing.
• KUNR
Dr. Mark Pandori heads the Nevada State Public Health Laboratory. He talked with KUNR’s Anh Gray to break down the process involved in the development of the modified test.
• Reno Gazette Journal
The COVID-19 Washoe Incident Management Team is preparing for a surge in patients as the region struggles with a shortage of protective equipment needed for healthcare workers and first responders.
• Reno Gazette Journal
The new flexibility will hopefully expedite the process of finding new ways to test for coronavirus, hopefully expanding the state’s ability to test, Dr. Mark Pandori, director of the Nevada State Public Health Laboratory said in a press release on Tuesday.
• KOLO Channel 8 News
The State of Nevada announced Tuesday, March 24, 2020 it has been given approval to develop, assess and conduct its own COVID-19 testing.
• KLAS 8 News Now Las Vegas
“This change in Nevada’s status will allow the State of Nevada, not the FDA, to determine whether products associated with testing are safe and effective for testing. This means that when labs in Nevada do validation studies on products to determine whether they are effective prior to launching testing, they can submit their findings to the state, not the FDA, for approval. This is a much faster process. By the end of next week, we should have data on novel products for testing that should increase testing capacity considerably," said Dr. Mark Pandori, director of the NSPHL.
• KSNV News 3 Las Vegas
Federal regulators will allow Nevada to develop and conduct its own testing for the coronavirus disease COVID-19, according to state officials. "This means that when labs in Nevada do validation studies on products to determine whether they are effective prior to launching testing, they can submit their findings to the state, not the FDA, for approval," Dr. Mark Pandori, director of the Nevada State Public Health Laboratory, said in a statement.
• KOLO Channel 8 News
KOLO Channel 8 News is celebrating Women's History Month by spotlighting women making a difference in our community. Dr. Catherine McCarthy is a doctor and professor at UNR Med.
• The Nevada Independent
Nearly two weeks ago, just as the state began to confirm its first cases, The Nevada Independent sat down with the lab’s director, Dr. Mark Pandori, to discuss what the testing process looked like. Today, the Independent again spoke with Pandori to find out the newest developments including how the state has adapted its testing process, and how the disease’s rapid spread could put pressure on the state’s limited testing infrastructure.
• KUNR
Dr. Mark Pandori, who runs the lab, said he received testing kits from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 5,000 testing kits are left, but he said that his lab, as well as many others across the country, are running into shortages of the materials needed to run the results.
• Reno Gazette Journal
"We will be doing and are prepared to do many, many more tests," said Mark Pandori, director of the lab and an associate professor in the University of Nevada, Reno Schoo of Medicine's Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine.
• KNPR
Why are rural clinics around the state continuing to close? And what can be done to stop it? John Packham, associate dean for the Office of Statewide Initiatives at UNR Med joined KNPR's State of Nevada to talk about the struggle to bring health care to rural Nevada.
• Las Vegas Sun
Mark Pandori, director of the Nevada State Public Laboratory at UNR, said the lab there has the capability to run about 2,000 tests.
• Elko Daily Free Press
According to Dr. Mark Pandori, director of the Nevada State Public Health Laboratory at the University of Nevada, Reno, test kits are being processed at the rate of about 100 a day.
