Nevada adds 405 new COVID-19 cases, 8 additional deaths

Nevada recorded 405 new cases of COVID-19 and eight additional deaths from the disease, according to state data posted Tuesday.

Updated figures from the Department of Health and Human Services posted on its nvhealthresponse.nv.gov website raised the case total for the state to 69,633 and increased the death toll to 1,313. Reports from local health districts and counties place the case total slightly higher, at 69,714 as of Tuesday night.

New cases of the disease caused by the new coronavirus reported by the state were below the daily average of nearly 460 over the preceding week, while fatalities were well below the daily average of 15 for the period. Those averages where themselves down from the corresponding daily averages of the prior week, which were 578 and nearly 18, respectively.

Hospitalizations of confirmed or suspected COVID-19 patients, which have been declining for weeks, continued on that path, falling by 21 to 643 over the preceding day.

The state’s cumulative infection or positivity rate, considered an better indicator of the trend of the outbreak, inched higher for the sixth straight day, reaching 11.62 percent.

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The rate — calculated by the Review-Journal as confirmed cases divided by the number of people tested — has been climbing since it bottomed out at 5.20 percent on June 17.

The reason the positivity rate has continued to climb while metrics like cases and deaths have been trending lower is not clear. But state and local officials have been prioritizing contact tracing, and targeted testing in hard-hit demographic groups and geographical areas would be expected to return a higher percentage of positive results than tests of the general public.

COVID-19 testing also may be playing a role, though it’s tough to say what that is. Testing has fallen off a bit in recent weeks, a trend that extended to the 4,390 new COVID-19 tests reported Tuesday, well below the daily average of just over 5,713 for the preceding week. But even when testing volumes were at their highest from late July to early August, the cumulative positivity rate was not impacted an an obvious way.

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The Southern Nevada Health District, meanwhile, reported 296 new COVID-19 cases and eight additional deaths over the preceding day in Clark County.

Data posted on the health district’s coronavirus webpage the county case total to 59,716 and raised the death toll to 1,134.

New cases and fatalities were well below the daily average of just over 274 and 14, respectively, over the preceding week.

Clark County figures are generally reflected in Nevada’s updates, but discrepancies sometimes surface due to technical issues or variations in reporting cycles.

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