The mask mandate can't replace the vaccination effort, public health experts say, but may help buy vaccinators time against the quickly spreading and highly transmissible Delta variant.

More than a year into the pandemic, the victory we long for has been delayed as the vaccination effort races against the variants' spread. This uncertain moment, however, offers an opportunity for Nevada: To reflect, to learn and to heal.

The last year laid bare Nevada's chronic underfunding of public health systems, a lack of investment in aging state infrastructure, including its unemployment system and continued economic overreliance on the tourism industry. It also saw resilience in the face of despair.