Nevada adds 636 COVID-19 cases, 12 deaths

Nevada on Saturday recorded an additional 636 cases of the coronavirus and 12 more deaths, according to state data.

The state Department of Health and Human Services posted the new figures on its nvhealthresponse.nv.gov website, increasing total cases in Nevada to 65,069 and raising the death toll to 1,197.

All of the additional deaths occurred in Clark County, according to the Southern Nevada Health District.

The infection rate for the state, considered by experts to be a better indicator of the pandemic than daily new cases or death numbers, continued to climb on Saturday, reaching 11.42 percent.

The rate, which is calculated by the number of cases divided by the number of people who have been tested, has been rising steadily since it hit a low of 5.20 percent on June 17.

As of Saturday, 569,960 people in Nevada have been tested for the virus, according to the state.

The number of people hospitalized with confirmed or suspected coronavirus cases rose slightly from Friday, to 825 hospitalizations. That’s still well below the levels seen in late July and early August, when daily hospitalizations typically were between 1,100 and 1,165.

Meanwhile, Clark County saw an additional 489 cases reported on Saturday, according to data from the Southern Nevada Health District.

The updated data raised the number of cases in the county to 56,010, and the number of deaths to 1,027, according to figures posted on the district’s coronavirus webpage. The health district estimates that as of Saturday, 48,964 people in the county have recovered from the virus.

The agency also reported an additional 76 new hospitalizations of patients with confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19. On Wednesday, the Nevada Hospital Association reported that “some individual hospitals (are) experiencing high occupancy rates.”

“Relative COVID-19 hospital demand in Clark County is declining, however, demand remains high,” the group said Wednesday.

Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter.