Clark County records 214 new COVID-19 cases, 2 more deaths

Clark County recorded 214 new COVID-19 cases — the second time this week that figure has surpassed 200 — and two additional deaths, according to data posted Friday by the Southern Nevada Health District.

The report pushed total cases in the county to 8,314 and the death toll from the disease caused by the new coronavirus to 377, the data posted on the district’s coronavirus web page. The district estimates that 6,348 of those patients have recovered.

New cases were well above the daily average for the preceding week of just over 149, while the fatalities were slightly below the daily average of nearly three for the period. Friday’s number eclipsed the 207 cases reported Monday as the highest one day total this week.

The Review-Journal has long used the hospitalization rate as a good indicator of the trend of the outbreak in the county, but Brian Labus, an assistant professor in epidemiology and biostatistics at UNLV and a member of the medical team advising Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak, recommends following the actual daily reported number of hospitalizations rather than the rate. The reason, he says, is that the latter can be influenced by increased testing for COVID-19, which could result in a decreasing hospitalization rate even as the number of people being admitted was on the rise.

In light of that, we’re going to track the daily hospitalization numbers for the county, beginning now.

Hospitalizations climb

Friday’s report illustrates a key difference that emerges when you examine the data in this way: The district reported 14 new hospitalizations over the preceding day, bringing the total for the county to 1,717.

That number was slightly higher than the daily average of 13 over the preceding week. But that number was higher than the daily average of about 9.5 over the week before that.

The hospitalization rate for the county — the number of people hospitalized divided by those with confirmed cases — has continued to decline through the period, falling to 16.62 percent (excluding deaths) in Friday’s report from 18.15 percent a week ago.

The state Department of Health and Human Services, meanwhile reported 279 new COVID-19 cases and four additional deaths.

The new cases pushed the total for the state to 10,678 and the death toll to 462. Reports from local health districts and other agencies place the total caseload somewhat higher, at 10,705.

The number of new cases was well above the average for the preceding week of just over 187 and marked the third time third time this week the state has reported more than 200 cases in a single day and was the highly daily total reported since the district reported 295 new cases on May 22.

The new fatalities were just under the daily average of just over four during the period.

The state infection rate — the number of confirmed cases divided by the number of people tested — remained unchanged at 5.4 percent.

The rate, considered by experts to be a better indicator of the trend of the outbreak in the state than new cases or deaths reports, had been steadily declining for weeks since peaking at 12.66 percent on April 23. But over the last week, it has leveled off and even risen in one report.

An advisory from the Nevada Hospital Association issued Thursday, said that the state had seen recent upticks in the number of new hospitalizations.

“Confirmed hospitalized cases continue to rise in small increments for the past six days,” it said, referencing data through Wednesday.

It noted that Northern Nevada had seen its “trend line” increase over the past 14 days, while “Southern Nevada continues to experience daily variation in both confirmed and suspected COVID-19 cases requiring hospitalization.”

The advisory stressed that the state’s hospitals have “plenty of capacity,” with the occupancy rate of intensive care units at 66 percent and ventilator usage at 26 percent of capacity.

Interactive: Coronavirus impact on Nevada explained through data

In a news briefing Thursday, Caleb Cage, Nevada’s COVID-19 response director, acknowledged the upticks in both new cases and hospitalizations seen this week, but said expanded testing accounts for some of the increases in new cases. He added that new hospitalizations were “continuing to plateau” and remain within the expected range.

“Our assessment based on this data is that we are not seeing evidence of a second wave of COVID-19 here in Nevada yet,” Cage said at the online briefing.

The health district revises the daily statistics after they are reported in an effort to more accurately show when cases occurred, so the totals announced daily often do not match the revised figures.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

Contact Mike Brunker at mbrunker@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4656. Follow @mike_brunker on Twitter.