Many of Nevada’s major COVID-19 metrics are back at February levels

Nevada on Friday reported 813 new coronavirus cases and 13 additional deaths over the preceding day, capping a week in which major disease metrics in the state continued to rise and reached levels not seen since February.

Updated figures posted by the Department of Health and Human Services on the state’s coronavirus website pushed totals in the state to 338,072 cases and 5,720 deaths.

New cases were well above the moving 14-day average of daily reported cases of 394. Deaths were also higher than the moving average of three fatalities per day over the same period.

State and county health agencies often redistribute the 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.

The moving average for new cases has increased nearly every day for the past month, climbing from 133 on June 11 to nearly 400 as of Friday.

The jump in new cases has been accompanied by increases in both the COVID-19 test positivity rate and hospitalizations.

The two-week moving average for fatalities has remained mostly flat over the period.

State officials on Thursday said that COVID-19 metrics are rising in parts of the state with lower vaccination rates, including Clark County and some rural areas.

Data guide: COVID-19’s impact on Nevada

The state’s two-week test positivity rate, which essentially tracks the percentage of people tested for COVID-19 who are found to be infected, continued its recent increase Friday, jumping by 0.5 percentage points to reach 8.7 percent, according to state data. The rate has risen steadily since it hit a recent low of 3.3 percent on June 9 and on Thursday climbed above the 8 percent threshold since late February, according to state data.

The 14-day average of daily tests per 100,000 people has remained relatively flat during that period, standing at 157 on June 11 and at 152 on Friday.

There were 640 people in Nevada hospitalized with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 cases as of Friday’s report, which is 27 more than the day prior. Hospitalization totals have been increasing for the past month, and also are now at levels not seen since late February. Friday was the fifth day in a row that totals have increased, according to state data.

State officials say the more-contagious delta variant is partly responsible for the growing numbers, but so too is the reluctance or refusal of some residents to get vaccinated.

“The majority of the hospitalized patients are reportedly unvaccinated people,” the Nevada Hospital Association said in an update Wednesday.

Most of the recent growth has occurred in Clark County, where totals have more than doubled in the past month, Candice McDaniel, the deputy director of the Nevada Department of Health and Human Service, told reporters on Thursday.

The Southern Nevada Health District reported 771 new coronavirus cases and all 13 deaths recorded by the state on Friday.

Data posed on its coronavirus website pushed totals in the county to 263,915 cases and 4,530 deaths since the start of the pandemic.

The county’s two-week positivity rate also increased by 0.5 percentage points, reaching 9.7 percent.

Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter.