Press conference is getting kicked off -- @GovSisolak says state has distributed 1.9 million pieces of PPE

Live stream:
https://twitter.com/RileySnyder/status/1250139185379282944

Sisolak: Says COVID-19 fatality number is at 130. Says state needs to accurately record death data for modeling

"It is critical that our death data reflect the actual date of death."

Sisolak: 69% of ICU beds are occupied, 1/3 by COVID-19 patients. 340 hospitalized statewide from virus

Hopeful tone from @GovSisolak RE COVID-19 data --> "If we keep these numbers where we’re at, we can beat this virus together."

Sisolak says "some elected officials" have berated media for handling of COVID-19, says he wants to thank media for work and urges people to subscribe to newspapers, donate to online news orgs

Sisolak: Federal funding was granted over the weekend for expanded National Guard presence in state, says they will be discussing more of the missions that guard will undertake in near future

Sisolak now on UI filing problems: 300,000 Nevadans have applied for UI benefits over last 30 days, 10K per day.

Sisolak says rate of unemployment insurance claims was 9x as high as the worst week of the Great Recession. Already, state is at 2nd highest amount of initial claims filed in any year since 1990 in just April

Sisolak: The system was never set up to handle this volume of calls, and claims. If I could wave a wand tomorrow and start from scratch, I would do it. Says its not possible or practical to do that

Sisolak says he's instructred DETR to backdate all UI claims to March 15th of 2020, meaning anyone filing after will be paid retroactively without having to do anything once claim is received

RE: CARES Act - says extra $600 in UI payments will be backdated as well, and payments can go out as early as tomorrow

DETR administrator Kimberly Gaa is now speaking, says DETR has tripled staff in 4 weeks (75 to 200 people who handle claims). Says state has hired vendor with additional 100 operators, up and running some time this week

Gaa is going over a few other previously announced measures, including suspending work search requirement and 7 day waiting period for benefits. Says DETR is looking at early/mid May for UI benefits to gig workers/self-employed workers

Gaa: DETR is asking people to file a new guideline on filing claims, based on last name. Rather than starting on Sunday, now recommending filing for A-K last names on Sunday, I-R on Monday and S-Z on Tuesday

DETR administrator Gaa says state's UI system has paid out roughly $200 million in benefits since March 15

Asked about weekend outage of UI system, Gaa says DETR's system requires outage to plug additional code into system in order to handle $600 UI payments. Says future outages may be possible

Asked about Western Gov compact (CA/OR/WA), Sisolak says he'll base decision on easing regulations/open businesses "based on medical team I've put in place.....We are not there yet. I don't know when we're going to be there."

Sisolak says state does not have specific numbers/metrics on which it will determine opening state, looking at metrics like infection rate, hospitalization, ICU, ventilator use, fatalities
"This is not going to be a political decision for me. "

Sisolak responds to Trump comments RE governor's responsibility for tests, says state has been responsible for procuring all of state's tests. "It'd be nice if we got more help, but I'm not counting on any."

Asked about what state is doing to address cases/fatalities in healthcare facilities, Sisolak mentions National Guard deployment, volunteers with Battle Born Medical Corp as responses

Sisolak asked if he's concerned that hospitals are not releasing number of positive workers.

"I have learned I do not have a lot of control over the health districts." Says he's concerned about PPE shortages but state is dealing with health districts, not individual hospitals

Sisolak says he doesn't have anything planned at this point RE a special #nvleg session
"I haven't had enough time to think about calling a special session. "

Sisolak: Doesn't know if school will be re-opened in May, says decision will be based on advice from medical folks, risk of transmission in our schools at that point in time

Asked about inmate early release, Sisolak says there will be a Board of Pardons meeting in near future. Says there has to be a release plan, can't have people be released without housing/food secured

DETR's Gaa says state has never managed disaster unemployment assistance program, so state is working as fast as possible/needs to develop methodology to provide UI benefits to gig/self-employed workers