Clark County records 119 new COVID-19 cases, nine deaths

Public health officials on Tuesday reported 119 new cases of COVID-19 and nine additional deaths overnight in Clark County from the disease caused by the new coronavirus.

The cases reported by the Southern Nevada Health District on its COVID-19 webpage brought the total confirmed cases in the county to 3,218 and the death toll to 150.

By way of comparison, the district reported 46 deaths from influenza during the current flu season in its most recent report last week.

The report was released shortly after the state reported 144 new confirmed COVID-19 cases overnight. The dataposted by the state Department of Health and Human Services on the nvhealthresponse.nv.gov website brought the total number of confirmed cases in the state to 4,081.

The state updated the death toll from the disease to 187 late in the day. A reporting lag made it appear that the state had added 15 cases overnight, but other charts on the site indicated that the jump was spread over two days.

The state caseload was derived from tests on 33,888 people, resulting in an infection rate just over 12 of those tested. That figure is likely inflated from the virus’ true contagion rate because the seriously ill and people who have had close contact with a diagnosed patient are far more likely to be tested amid the ongoing shortage of testing supplies.

In other developments on Wednesday:

— The Washoe County Health District reported 26 new cases of COVID-19 and three additional deaths from the disease. The new cases bring the total reported in the county to 710, of whom 195 have recovered, according to the district. The new fatalities were all men, one in his 70s, one in his 80s and one in his 90s, all of whom had underlying health conditions. Their deaths brought the COVID-19 toll in the county to 21.

— The virus has continued to spread at the state’s nursing homes and other state-run or state-regulated institutions, with 10 additional deaths reported on the state’s COVID-19 website. The 36 deaths at nursing homes represent over 20 percent of the total fatalities in the state from the disease.

— Authorities in Mineral County announced the second confirmed COVID-19 case there. A news release said the victim was self-isolating at home but provided no other details. Both patients in the county live in Hawthorne, which has a population of 3,185.

This article was updated to correct the time period over which the state added 15 fatalities to the death toll.

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