Nevada sets record with 120 coronavirus deaths in week
Nevada reported 24 additional coronavirus deaths on Saturday morning, pushing the week’s total to 120. It marked the fourth consecutive week that the state has reported a record number of fatalities, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.
The week before had 117 new deaths recorded, while 100 deaths were reported from July 26 to Aug. 1.
Also Saturday, the state reported an additional 859 cases, pushing its total to 60,608. The total number of deaths rose to 1,069.
Due to reporting delays, the exact day that deaths occur is often unclear. Both the state health district and the Southern Nevada Health District redistribute data after daily reports in an attempt to reflect the day a person dies or starts experiencing symptoms. The average number of deaths in Southern Nevada is estimated to be seven people per day.
The state’s infection rate, which is the number of cases divided by the number of people who have been tested, continued to climb on Saturday to 11.16 percent, according to the state data.
The rate is considered by experts to be a better barometer of the outbreak’s trend than new cases or death figures. It has risen every day but three since June 17.
Data from the Southern Nevada Health District showed 782 new cases reported in the county on Saturday. All 24 additional deaths reported statewide also occurred in Clark County.
Case totals for the county rose to 52,239, while the number of deaths reached 908, according to the health district.
The health district estimates that as of Saturday, 44,957 people in Clark County have recovered from the virus.
Washoe County has the second highest county death toll in the state. The county has recorded 125 deaths as of Saturday. It saw seven deaths in the last week.
About 62 percent of deaths in the state were among those over 70 years old, according to state data.
Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter.
