Number of Nevada COVID-19 cases tops 1,000 as death toll hits 18

The number of COVID-19 cases in Nevada has surpassed 1,000, the state reported Monday, hours before the state death toll from the disease caused by the new coronavirus climbed by two to 18.

The new figure of 1,008 confirmed cases reported by the Department of Health and Human Services on the nvhealthresponse.nv.gov website was up from 920 cases late Sunday.

Meanwhile, the death toll in the state jumped with two cases reported Monday afternooon by the Washoe County Health District. It said the victims were a woman in her 30s with an underlying health condition and a woman in her 80s with underlying health conditions.

The health district also said in a news release that the total number of cases in the county increased to 121, up from the 107 reported on Sunday.

It also reported its first case in which a homeless person had tested positive for COVID-19. It said the individual had been released from a local hospital and was being placed in quarantine housing where they can isolate safely.

The individual had previously accessed services at the Community Assistance Center (CAC) and Reno Events Center, it said.

Elko County also reported two new COVID-19 cases there on Monday, bringing the total number of cases in the county to five. A release said one victim was a man in his 30s who was a close contact of a previously reported case, and the other was a woman in her 50s with no unusual travel history. It said both were isolating at home.

Clark County has seen the most cases of the disease, with 753 as of early Monday. All but three of the state deaths have occurred in the county.

On Monday, the Clark County Department of Aviation reported that two employees at McCarran International Airport had tested positive for COVID-19. Both self-reported their conditions and were at home under self-quarantine, it said.

One of the victims most recently worked at McCarran on Thursday, while the other last worked on Friday, the department said. It said the two did not work in close proximity with one another and were assigned to different shifts in different areas of the airport.

It said the work areas where the employees were assigned were sanitized using hospital-grade disinfectants and that it was reaching out to close contacts of the pair.

“Based on their work assignments, we have no reason to believe either had prolonged exposure to the traveling public,” it said in a news release.

The number of people tested for the new coronavirus in Nevada was 11,215 as of early Monday, according to state data. Private test companies LabCorp and Quest have overtaken the state labs in performing tests, with LabCorp leading the way with 3,217 tests performed.

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