Nevada adds 3K-plus COVID cases, 26 deaths over 3 days

Nevada on Monday reported 3,066 new coronavirus cases over the preceding three days — the highest number since the state stopped reporting numbers over the weekend in mid-April.

New cases, which were significantly higher than the 2,523 reported a week ago, came after a week in which the state’s major COVID-19 metrics either remained flat or registered slight declines. The figure was also well above the 3,010 cases reported Aug. 9, which also followed a weekend.

Nevada also reported 26 deaths over the three days. The average of just under nine fatalities per day was slightly below the two-week moving average, which dropped from 12 to 10.

Data posted by the state Department of Health and Human Services on the state’s coronavirus website increased totals for the state to 381,766 cases and 6,306 deaths.

The state’s two-week moving average of new cases increased by a significant margin, jumping from 928 to 979. That meant cases were slightly above average for the period when spread over three days.

The state’s two-week positivity rate, which essentially tracks the percentage of people tested for COVID-19 who are found to be infected, decreased by 0.5 percentage point to 14.4 percent, according to the state data.

After rising sharply from early June through Aug. 13, when it reached its recent high of 16.4 percent, the rate has been declining consistently and has shaved two percentage points off that peak. It had been as low as 3.3 percent on June 9.

State data showed that 1,231 people were hospitalized with either confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19 in the state, a decrease of 66 from the last report on Friday.

That number had also seen significant growth, but the Nevada Hospital Association has indicated for the past two weeks that it believed the state was close to reaching the peak of the current fourth wave.

Nevada no longer reports numbers over the weekend, and public health officials have said that reporting on Mondays and sometimes Tuesdays can be inflated as a result of the delayed compilation of local reports.

State and county health agencies also often redistribute the daily data after it is reported to better reflect the date of death or a test 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.

State data also showed that 60.91 percent of the population 12 and older had initiated vaccination, while 50.49 percent have been fully vaccinated.

The Southern Nevada Health District reported 2,192 new coronavirus cases in Clark County for Friday through Sunday, bringing the local case total to 298,914. It also reported 20 of the state’s fatalities, bringing the death toll in the county to 5,052.

The county’s 14-day positivity rate dropped to 13.6 percent.

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