Nevada adds 262 COVID-19 cases, 15 deaths
Nevada reported 15 new deaths from the coronavirus Tuesday, a sudden uptick after a decrease in reported deaths in recent days.
Updated data from the Department of Health and Human Services’ coronavirus webpage brought the total number of fatalities in the state to 1,546. There were 262 additional cases reported Tuesday, which brought the total to 76,298.
On Monday, no additional deaths were reported statewide, while only three were reported Sunday, according to state data.
All of the reported 15 deaths on Tuesday were from Clark County, raising the death toll in the county to 1,343, according to the Southern Nevada Health District.
The news came as Tuesday marked an “unfathomable” milestone in national deaths — more than 200,000 people in the U.S. have died from the virus. The country has the highest confirmed death toll from the virus in the world, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University.
The cumulative infection rate in Nevada Tuesday remained at 11.4 percent. The rate, which is considered a better indicator of the outbreak than daily death or case totals, is calculated by the Review-Journal as the total cases divided by the total people tested.
The state, which calculates its positivity rate based on the number of tests administered, reported a cumulative rate of 10 percent Tuesday. The state’s methodology yields lower figures because many people get tested multiple times, increasing the numbers upon which the percentages are based, which in turn lowers the percentages.
On Tuesday, the number of people in Nevada hospitalized with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 cases dropped by eight to 441 cases, state data showed. The Nevada Hospital Association has reported a “gradual declining trajectory” of hospitalizations.
In Clark County, there were 182 new cases of the virus reported Tuesday, bringing the total to 64,470, according to the health district’s coronavirus website.
As of Tuesday, 59,755 people in the county are estimated to have recovered from the virus, according to the health district.
Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter.