CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) — Gov. Steve Sisolak is expected to provide an update on Nevada’s COVID-19 response and vaccine distribution plans on Sunday at 4 p.m. amid an unrelenting surge that has spared no part of the state.

When the governor decided to tighten restrictions on businesses and gatherings to curb the spread of the virus on Nov. 22, he said the measures were meant to be a “statewide pause” and promised to reevaluate them in three weeks. Over the lifespan of the new restrictions, officials have not indicated whether they think the capacity limits are containing the virus to a sufficient extent.

Throughout the last three weeks, Nevada officials have reported about 53,000 new confirmed cases and 865 additional deaths, which amounts to about 2,500 cases and 41 deaths per day. About 3 out of every 10 cases and deaths reported in Nevada since March have been in the last three weeks.

The state’s hospitals have also experienced surges during the “statewide pause,” including in Reno, where Renown Regional Medical Center has set up an auxiliary COVID-19 unit in its parking garage. Nevada has more patients hospitalized per capita than any other state. As of Saturday, there were 1,854 patients confirmed or suspected to have COVID-19 in Nevada hospitals — a 54% increase from Nov. 22. The number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care units in Nevada has risen from 278 to 394 over the same time.

But at a Thursday task force meeting, officials noted signs of a possible turnaround. Labor monitors said compliance had improved with the statewide mask mandate and social distancing guidelines. Hospital association representatives had said the rate at which hospital populations were spiking had started to slow in northern and rural Nevada, where capacity has been most threatened.

“There are early indications we’re seeing some stabilization in some parts of the state,” state response director Caleb Cage said.

Officials are also hopeful about the impending arrival of vaccines from Pfizer, which began shipping out about 3 million doses from its manufacturing plant in Kalamazoo, Michigan, on Sunday. Nevada Health Bureau Chief Candice McDaniel said on Friday that she did not know when the doses would first be distributed in Nevada.

McDaniel said Nevada intends to follow federal guidelines and distribute its initial vaccine allocation to hospital staff on the front line and then residents of long-term care facilities such as nursing homes. Health officials anticipate receiving 25,350 initial doses from Pfizer this week; 17,550 will go to hospitals and 7,800 will go to pharmacies tasked with distributing them to nursing homes.

Of the estimated 173,451 people Nevada has prioritized as “Tier 1” for vaccines, the initial shipment is expected to cover about 15%. The state expects to receive more than 164,000 doses in December, which is enough to inoculate most of the prioritized first tier.

The state does not plan to mandate anyone receive the vaccine, but plans to encourage vaccination through an outreach campaign.

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Sam Metz is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues.