Clark County shatters single-day record of new COVID cases

The Southern Nevada Health District on Saturday reported the highest number of daily COVID-19 cases in Clark County since the start of the pandemic nearly two years ago.

The 6,110 cases detected Friday shattered the single-day record of 3,508 reported the previous day.

The 15 additional deaths from the virus reported Saturday pushes the total to 6,544 since the onset of the pandemic in March 2020. Since then, officials have tallied 392,971 infections in Southern Nevada.

“Today we are adding the highest daily COVID-19 case count and we are continuing to see a significant increase in cases, especially as the Omicron variant becomes more prevalent,” Dr. Fermin Leguen, chief health officer with the health district, said in a news release.

Leguen added that daily testing has increased two to three times more than before the omicron variant surged in the valley.

“We encourage people to get tested, especially after the holidays so they can take steps to protect themselves and their families,” he said.

Nevada’s COVID dashboard does not update on the weekends, but on Friday, it was reporting that about one in four people were testing positive for the coronavirus.

Although not as fast as new cases or positivity rate, hospitalizations climbed sharply over the past week. The 1,194 hospital beds occupied with COVID patients in Clark County on Friday represented a 58 percent increase from Dec. 30.

A total of 197 COVID patients were in intensive care units on Friday, and 114 of them required ventilators, state data shows.

Deaths are the only metric — aside from new cases, positivity rate and hospitalizations — that have remained relatively flat since the other numbers began climbing in early November.

Health experts continue to stress that vaccination is the best protection against serious illness from COVID-19.

“The Health District reminds everyone to be fully vaccinated and get a booster dose when eligible, wear well-fitting masks when indoors and in crowded settings, frequent handwashing, and most importantly to stay home and away from others if sick,” officials wrote in the release.

The death rate among the vaccinated population is 22 per 100,000 residents, while those not inoculated account for 562 deaths per 100,000 residents, health district numbers show.

Out of the 261 deaths blamed on breakthrough cases — when the virus evades vaccination protection — 86 percent were among residents 65 or older, according to a weekly health district report on such infections.

Officials advised that people should visit community testing sites rather than hospitals.

For more information on testing and vaccination sites, visit snhd.info/covid-testing and snhd.info/covid-vaccine.

rtorres@reviewjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @rickytwrites.