Clark County’s key COVID-19 metrics all either lower or flat

Clark County on Tuesday reported 369 new COVID-19 cases and 15 additional deaths as most longer term metrics for the disease slid lower or were flat.

Updated figures posted online by the Southern Nevada Health District pushed totals for the county to 341,619 confirmed cases and 6,145 deaths. That means that approximately 1.8 percent of county residents who become ill from the disease caused by the new coronavirus have died.

New cases were higher than the county’s two-week average of 316 per day, while the average declined by 20 from Monday’s report, state data showed.

Fatalities were more-than triple the 14-day moving average of four deaths per day, while the average was down one from the previous day.

Hospitalization of confirmed and suspected COVID-19 patients stood at 553, unchanged from the previous day. Out of the 144 patients in intensive care units, 95 were on ventilators, state data showed.

The county’s test positivity rate, which tracks the percentage of people tested for COVID-19 who are found to be infected, also was unchanged at 7.0 percent.

All four key COVID-19 metrics for the county have risen significantly since the beginning of November, though the increase has slowed over the past week. While concerns remain that a winter surge of the disease could materialize, local and state public health officials have not declared that the county is seeing a so-called “fifth wave” of the disease.

Data guide: COVID-19’s impact on Nevada

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.

Meanwhile, the state Department of Health and Human Services on Tuesday reported 580 new COVID-19 cases and 23 deaths during the previous day.

That pushed totals in Nevada to 454,351 cases and 7,953 deaths since the onset of the pandemic.

New cases were well above the 14-day average of 461 per day, while deaths were more than triple the 14-day average of seven per day. The 14-day average of new cases per day declined by 14 per day from Monday’s report, while the average for fatalities was unchanged.

The state’s positivity rate of 7.6 percent was 0.1 percent lower than Monday.

The number of confirmed and suspected COVID-19 patients in Nevada hospitals stood at 701, up by 13 from the previous day.

Tuesday afternoon the state issued its weekly mask wearing guidance and announced that Esmeralda County had achieved back-to-back weeks with “low” risk of transmission status as measured by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That means vaccinated individuals in the county will no longer have to wear masks indoors or in crowded outdoor settings beginning Friday.

All other Nevada counties were in the CDC’s “high” risk category, meaning they will remain under the mask mandate for at least two more weeks.

State vaccination data showed Tuesday that 52.07 of eligible Nevadans 5 and older are vaccinated, slightly above the 51.30 percent for Clark County.

Contact Ricardo Torres-Cortez at rtorres@reviewjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @rickytwrites.