Nevada has been under a state of emergency for over two years as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold of the nation. On Thursday, Governor Steve Sisolak signed a proclamation ending the state's emergency status at midnight.

On Friday, May 20 at 12:01 a.m. Nevada will no longer be under a state of emergency for the first time in 799 days.

At that point, Nevada officials will no longer have certain flexibilities which gave them more power to enact sweeping safety and economic changes to deal with complications citizens and businesses faced during the initial waves of COVID-19. For example, the closure of all nonessential Nevada businesses on March 20, 2020.

The virus presented the state with unprecedented challenges over the past two years. However, in a Thursday press release, the governor's office said, in part:

Due to diligent planning and collaboration across all levels of government in Nevada, the need for the declaration of emergency has ended and the state is prepared to prevent, treat and manage COVID-19 cases.

Nevada officially entered a state of emergency on March 12, 2020. On December 14, 2021, Washoe County recorded its 1,000th COVID-19 related death since the start of the pandemic.

“Today, we are turning the page on the State of Emergency caused by COVID-19 and are laser focused on ensuring our recovery from the public health, fiscal and economy crisis serves the needs of Nevada’s families,” said Governor Steve Sisolak. “I am proud of the way we came together as the Battle Born State to respond to this virus and to protect lives and livelihoods. COVID-19 is still with us, and we can all still take steps to protect ourselves from the virus, but now is the time to end this State of Emergency.”

In the proclamation, the governor cites some of the reasons for lifting the declaration, such as decreasing COVID-19 case and hospital numbers and ample supplies of vaccines and antibody treatments across the state.

You can read the entire proclamation from the State of Nevada Executive Department below: