For the second straight week, COVID-19 hospitalizations dipped and cases plateaued in Clark County and in Nevada, according to state data released Wednesday, potentially signaling the start of a more sustained downturn.

BA.5 has become the dominant subvariant of COVID-19 in Las Vegas. Health officials are reporting a slight decrease in hospitalizations and cases, but concerns are rising. This subvariant variant is the most transmissible yet.

As the latest and most transmissible COVID-19 variant, BA.5, spreads rapidly through the U.S. and Nevada in what has become the sixth wave of the pandemic, experts say that low vaccination rates have contributed to the continual morphing and spreading of the virus.

Just as we get to grips with one infectious disease, another makes its way into the headlines: Monkeypox.

Throughout the two years of COVID-19, there was a familiar pattern: A rise in cases, followed by a rise in hospitalizations, and then a rise in deaths.

We’ve been dealing with COVID-19 for more than two years now. Now we’ve got monkeypox.

Federal and local public health agencies are recommending wearing a mask in public indoor settings now that Clark County has once again reached high community levels of COVID-19.

Monkeypox has now been found in 12 U.S. states as part of an outbreak that has seen over 700 confirmed cases worldwide.