Clark County records 288 new COVID-19 cases as death toll hits 400

Clark County recorded 288 new COVID-19 cases and two additional fatalities over the preceding day, pushing the county death toll from the disease caused by the new coronavirus to 400, according to government data posted Monday.

New cases posted on the Southern Nevada Health District’s coronavirus web page were above the daily average of just over 250 for the preceding week, but well below the record 407 new cases reported on Saturday. They pushed the total number of cases reported in the county to 10,774.

The health district estimates that 7,683 of those patients have recovered.

The additional fatalities were below the daily average for the week of just under three.

The data showed just one new hospitalization in the preceding 24 hours, well below the daily average of just over 14 over the preceding week.

Meanwhile, the state Department of Health and Human Services on Monday reported 330 new cases of COVID-19 and two additional deaths over the preceding day.

New data posted on the state’s nvhealthresponse.nv.gov web page boosted total cases reported by the state to 13,535 and the death toll to 489. (Reports from local health districts and county agencies place the total higher, at 13,587 as of late Monday.)

The new cases reported by the state were above the average of just over 290 for the preceding week.

The fatalities were below the daily average of slightly over three for the period.

The infection rate — the number of confirmed cases divided by the number of people tested — is considered a better barometer of the trend of the outbreak in Nevada than the daily new-case and death reports, which tend to fluctuate widely. That figure had been steadily declining for more than two months before turning upward late last week, when the state began reporting a surge in new cases.

As of Monday, the rate stood at 5.55 percent, up from a low of 5.20 percent on Wednesday.

Experts are uncertain what is behind the recent rebound in cases.

Many had predicted that case figures would climb with the wider availability of COVID-19 testing as the checks picked up people with mild or no symptoms who previously would have gone undetected when testing was limited to the seriously ill.

Testing capacity has increased in recent weeks, reaching a record daily average of more than 6,020 in the week ending Sunday, but it grew for nearly a month without producing an upward trend in new cases.

Others have speculated that the reopening of “nonessential” businesses that were closed in the early days of the pandemic in Nevada and recent protests over the deaths of Black civilians at the hands of police also may be contributing to the surge.

Both the state and health district often redistribute cases and deaths after they are announced in an attempt to better reflect the dates when either the onset of symptoms or the death occurred. As a result, totals announced daily often do not match the more-detailed breakdowns provided after the initial announcement.

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