Clark County sees 137 new COVID-19 cases, 5 additional deaths

Clark County recorded 137 additional COVID-19 cases and five additional deaths overnight, according to data posted early Monday by the Southern Nevada Health District.

The increase in reported cases was the biggest overnight jump since 139 cases were tallied on Thursday and brought the total reported cases in the county to 4,411. The district estimates that 3,018 of those patients have recovered.

The daily figure was well above the daily average of 100 new cases over the past week.

The death toll from the disease caused by the new coronavirus in the county rose to 223.

Earlier the state reported 68 new cases of COVID-19, the lowest overnight jump in a week, and four deaths. The state and county numbers are out of sync on a daily basis, as some cases reported by the health district aren’t reflected on the state’s nvhealthresponse.nv.gov website until the following day.

Data posted by the state Department of Health and Human Services showed the total number of reported cases in the state grew to 5,491, the smallest increase since 63 were added in the April 26 report. Records maintained by the Review-Journal show that local health districts and county officials have reported a total of 5,624 cases, some of which apparently have not yet been added to the state total.

Levels of new cases remain well below the highs of more than 200 cases seen on some days in early to mid-April.

The total reported cases in the state were derived from tests on 46,166 people for the disease caused by the new coronavirus, resulting in an infection rate of 11.89 percent of those tested.

The county infection rate cannot be calculated because the health district does not report the total number of people tested.

The state infection rate, while likely still elevated because of the slowly easing shortage of testing supplies in Nevada, has been declining steadily for more than a week, suggesting more people with mild to moderate symptoms of the disease are being tested and many are being found to be suffering from other illnesses.

Public health experts have said that as more people are tested, they expect the number of cases reported on a daily basis to increase. Instead, they say, rates of fatalities, infections and hospitalizations may offer a more reliable yardstick to measure the state’s progress during this phase of the outbreak.

Clark County’s hospitalization rate, for example, has been trending downward since peaking at higher than 31 percent on several days in early to mid-April. As of Monday’s report it stood at 27.34 percent of confirmed cases.

In other developments Monday:

■ The Regional Information Center reported 11 new COVID-19 cases and two additional deaths in Washoe County. The new cases pushed the county total to 988, 400 of whom have recovered, according to the county. The deaths of a woman in her 90s and a man in his 80s, both of whom had underlying health conditions, raised the county toll to 35, the center reported.

■ Officials in Nye County reported two new COVID-19 cases in Pahrump, bringing the total cases for the county to 39. Eighteen of those patients are listed as recovered.

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