Clark County’s COVID-19 positivity rate posts 9th straight increase

Clark County saw three of its four key COVID-19 metrics rise on Thursday, including a ninth-straight increase in its test positivity rate.

Updated figures posted by the Southern Nevada Health District showed 470 new cases and 12 deaths during the previous day, pushing county totals to 339,593 cases and 6,108 deaths.

New cases were well above the two-week moving average of 310 per day, which was up from 305 on Wednesday, according to state data. The two-week moving average of daily fatalities in the county rose from four to five per day.

The number of people hospitalized with confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19 in the county decreased by five, to 557, the state data showed.

The county’s 14-day test positivity rate, which tracks the percentage of people tested for COVID-19 who are found to be infected, increased 0.1 percentage point to 7.0 percent.

State data shows the county’s rate has now risen in nine straight reporting days and 16 of the last 17, a period which has seen the average climb by 1.2 percentage points. The state had reported a 0.1 percentage decrease in the county positivity rate on Wednesday, but this is an example of how figures in the daily updates are adjusted to better reflect the onset of symptoms, date of death or, in this case, the date a test was administered.

All four key COVID-19 metrics in the county had been falling fairly steadily since mid- to late-August and remain well below the levels seen during the summer surge of the disease. But the numbers have started to climb since the beginning of November, raising concerns that another spike of the disease caused by the new coronavirus may be starting.

Data guide: COVID-19’s impact on Nevada

The state, meanwhile, reported 691 new COVID-19 cases and 16 deaths during the preceding day. Updated figures posted by the state Department of Health and Human Services raised Nevada’s totals to 451,547 cases and 7,899 deaths.

Nevada’s 14-day moving average of new cases increased to 469 per day from 467 on Tuesday. The two-week average for fatalities increased by one to eight per day.

State and county health agencies often redistribute daily data after it is reported to better reflect the date of death or onset of symptoms, which is why the moving-average trend lines frequently differ from daily reports and are considered better indicators of the direction of the outbreak.

Of the state’s other closely watched metrics, the state’s two-week test positivity rate was unchanged at 7.6 percent, while the number of people in Nevada hospitalized with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 cases dropped to 697, nine less than on Tuesday.

The Nevada Hospital Association said in its weekly update that hospitalizations have recently been increasing in only two of the state’s 17 counties: Clark and Douglas. The numbers in the remainder either decreased or remained flat over the preceding two weeks.

County numbers are included in the statewide totals.

As of Thursday’s report, state data show that 57.09 percent of Nevadans 12 and older had been fully vaccinated, compared to 56.38 percent in Clark County. That number fluctuates widely throughout the state.

Contact Jonah Dylan at jdylan@reviewjournal.com. Follow @TheJonahDylan on Twitter.